


The Bumblekits

by Werewolf714



Series: Trust, Love, Betrayal. AU. [7]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Adopted Children, Angst, Character Development, Children, Children of Characters, Cute Kids, Fluff, Future Fic, Growing Up, Harm to Children, I'm Bad At Tagging, Intermission, Major Character Injury, Meddling Kids, Minor Injuries, Multi, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2020-05-16 22:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19327642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werewolf714/pseuds/Werewolf714
Summary: "Master criminal, Master of Minecraft, Hero of Remnant and now... Now I'm taking care of adorable little fluffballs. How did I go from Dust thief to this?" In which Roman is probably a bad influence on Blake and Yang's kids. Or maybe a good one. No one's really sure yet. (TLB AU, starts after the end of White Riding Hood. Contains OCs)





	1. Roman's Worst Weekend Ever

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Spoilers
> 
> If you are reading Trust Love Betrayal do not read this until you have finished it and the White Riding Hood path. You will find major spoilers if you read this before finishing those.
> 
> If you are new and just coming in, Welcome! If you don't wish to read the two fics before this you don't have to though I would recommend it as it follows the AU those fics set.
> 
> It's not required though.

Roman sat on the plush oversized couch, hopping through the multiple channels he rarely watched anyway. It had been a handful of years since the fall of Cinder. The day Roman had officially become one of the good guys.

He sighed, missing his days of crime just a bit. They had been fun after all, though they would have been better without Cinder.

Ruby bounced past as the doorbell rang and Roman smiled, reminded again why he'd given up his old life.

All because of a pitiful girl who showed up on his doorstep, soaked and betrayed.

They had become friends through a video game no less, after starting as enemies he had never guessed that he would one day marry the girl. Life had fallen into a sort of content peace. Remnant was now in a greater time of peace as the work of The Clan had done a great deal in bringing the humans and faunus together.

Though, that wasn't to say that crime was gone, or that it didn't still have the White Fang and Schnee dust involved anymore. Those things still very much thrived, just in the shadows and far more patient under the careful, multicolored eyes of Neo.

He shook his head at the thought of his ice cream loving cousin, who had been by the night before, raiding his fridge because she could. It had been normal for her to break in late at night in order to steal all the frozen treats, it was like a game to her.

Roman's train of thought was interrupted by the return of Ruby, her sister and her sister in law with her.

Roman glanced at the three, Ruby and Yang ready for the job they had decided to take and Blake… Blake was very pregnant. She looked like she might pop at any moment.

Roman gave the three a quizzical look as Blake sat on the couch -as far from Roman as possible, they had never gotten along well.

Her pregnancy was still puzzling to him, but he was also glad he'd cut Ruby off before she could tell him how exactly that had happened. All he knew was Yang was technically the 'father' and he had decided against finding out any details.

"Why is the kitty here?" Roman asked, earning him a glare from Blake.

"She's supposed to be on bedrest." Yang explained. "But Ruby and I need to go take care of this job, so you make sure she has everything she needs."

"It's only a couple of days." Ruby added.

"I'd be fine at home." Blake grumbled.

"But we have Tara here, she can help too." Ruby pointed out. Blake sighed, having already lost the argument once.

After heartfelt goodbyes and urges to be careful and return safe, Ruby and Yang headed out leaving Roman and Blake alone.

As was normal, they ignored one another. Roman went back to channel hopping while Blake read. Some time later Roman had been through every channel more than twice so he set the remote down and glanced over at Blake.

"Good book?"

"What do you care?" She grumbled back without looking up.

"Red's not the only one in the house that reads you know…."

This time she did glance up. "It's about a wizard in modern day trying to make a living as a detective."

"Dresden files?" Roman guessed and Blake was honestly surprised.

"Yes."

"You've almost finished that one but the next is my favorite, would you like me to go and grab it?"

"Sure… Thanks."

Roman left and made his way to the other wing of the house and the personal library he shared with Ruby. She had all her books on one side and his were on the other, things they both enjoyed were on the wall facing the door to either side of the fireplace. He walked over and grabbed the book he was looking for, it was a favorite after all. Its spine was worn and all the pages soft with age. He carried the book back to the living room and handed it to Blake. "If you need anything else just let me know."

"Thanks… You are being oddly nice."

"No, just less rude."

"Oh." Blake blinked at the remark then went back to reading since she had only two pages left.

Roman walked over to the remote and pressed a different button, switched to the playstation's designated channel, then grabbed a controller and turned the system on. He clicked through the menu to the game and, seeing it was the one he wanted, he pressed the X button.

The music of Minecraft soon filled the room, soft and mellow it did not disturb Blake as much as the TV had, allowing her to relax a bit as she picked up the next book.

Roman created a new survival map using a steampunk theme pack he'd bought recently. The map loaded - he found himself face to face with a pig and started laughing.

"H-how am… I supposed to kill that!" He stated before roaring with laughter and falling from the couch. Blake glanced up, saw the pig turn and wander away then shook her head and went back to her book.

Roman went back to playing, smashed a bit of grass, killed a few mobs for food then found a mountain near a river. He grabbed and spread the sugarcane he found growing on the river before punching down a couple of trees then digging into the side of the mountain.

\--------------------------------------------------------

He had a decent strip mine going by the time he looked up from the game and noticed Blake missing. Roman frowned, glancing around, she'd left the book open and face down on the seat next to where she had been sitting. About the time he figured she must have gone to the bathroom he heard a loud thud followed by a pained cry.

Dropping the controller on the couch, Roman hopped to his feet and ran to the source of the ruckus. On reaching the kitchen he found Blake on the floor, the glass of tea she had gone in there for was now spilled on the floor with what was apparently a fallen glass of milk. The wet floor seemed to be the reason for her fall. He stepped over and knelt beside her, he knew her nearly nine month, triplet loaded, pregnant self wasn't getting up on her own.

"Are you alright?"

"I… think so…" She groaned as he offered a hand.

She took it and once he had her to a sitting position he got her to wrap her arm around his middle while he looped a hand under her other shoulder so he could pull her back to her feet just by standing straight. She was heavy but his plan worked and he had her back upright and carefully maneuvered away from the wet floor.

About then Tara rolled a mop bucket in and started cleaning the floor, her headphones having prevented her from hearing anything and her attention was focused entirely on what she was doing.

"You can let go now." Roman stated, glancing back at Blake as Tara started mopping the mess.

"I would if I could." She grumbled, tugging at her arm that was apparently stuck to him.

"Tara!"

The older faunus jumped and looked over at the two before pulling her headphones off. "Yes sir?"

"What exactly was spilled?"

"Glue sir."

Roman let out an exasperated sigh. He was glued to his sister in law and couldn't simply pull his shirt off to escape, it had ridden up his back so her bare arm was glued to his bare back.

"Guys… We have another problem…" There was panic creeping into Blake's voice.

"What." Roman groaned, not sure how this could get worse.

"My water just broke."

"Oh, son of a gelatinous slime."

Blake gave Roman an incredulous glance over the strange swear while Tara scrambled to grab her car keys.

"I'll drive, hurry, hurry!" Tara said, ushering the two out of the back door and towards the driveway.

Roman helped Blake as best he could get into the back of the SUV while Tara started the engine. He managed to wiggle them both into the back seat and close the door. "Why now?"

"The fall must have triggered it." Blake answered, gritting her teeth in pain as contractions started suddenly.

Tara drove rather well in the lunch rush traffic, getting them safely to the hospital.

The two awkwardly stumbled through the emergency room entrance while Tara held the doors then ran to the desk.

"We got triplets inbound and an unfortunate bystander glued to the mama." Tara explained and the woman behind the desk hopped to her feet and called others to help.

Suddenly Roman and Blake were surrounded by nurses who were asking questions as they were ushered down a hall.

"Are you the father?"

"No, that would be Yang Xiao Long."

"Okay… That sounds like a woman's name…" The nurse mumbled as she scribbled things down on a paper.

"That's because it is." Roman sighed, they were asking Blake questions too as they set her up on a rolling stretcher.

One of the nurses tugged at Blake's arm only to find it glued in place. "What..?"

"Long story." Roman grumbled as he ran alongside the stretcher.

"How exactly is your _wife_ the _father?_ " Another nurse asked Blake.

"Don't ask her that! I don't even want to know." Roman snapped at the nurse who glared at him.

Blake named off some odd medical terminology and that apparently answered the question as the nurse nodded and wrote it down. Just before they reached the elevator Roman glanced past the nurse running beside him and saw into one of the emergency rooms where a young adult male wearing no pants and heels was wiping blood from his face. He grinned in a rather creepy manor as they passed. His attention was yanked away from the strange scene as Blake cried out in pain again and dug her nails into his skin.

Roman snarled and stumbled a step as they made it onto the elevator.

"Shouldn't we separate them?"

"That would be nice."

"Not enough time, babies first!"

Roman growled at that, already in pain from Blake's bone-crushing grip.

They reached the destined room and there was chaos as Blake screamed more and crushed Roman harder, sending him to his knees beside her, she was making it hard to breathe and he could feel her nails drawing blood. A nurse stepped beside Blake and instructed her on how to breathe for this then gave her a shot. It didn't seem to help though.

The next several hours were filled with screaming and pain, the nurses not sure which of the two was screaming louder. Roman was only vaguely aware of the doctor talking to Blake as time dragged on.

Finally Blake fell silent and all the tension drained from her arm, freeing Roman from the painful grip. The ordeal apparently over, the nurses set to separating Roman and Blake, causing both more pain. Once it was over Roman sat off to the side with his shirt off while one nurse treated his wounds, her eyes kept wandering to his scars.

"I've been through a lot."

"I see that… There, you are all set now." She nodded her approval and moved on to being helpful elsewhere.

Roman glanced over to Blake to see that they had finished treating her arm and another pair of nurses were bringing the now bundled little ones to her. After a moment of hesitation Roman stepped over to look at the babies she was holding. Wrapped in the soft pink fabric they looked like little fuzzy kittens at first. Looking closer Roman realized that they had human faces and cat ears, their bodies covered in fur.

"What, never seen a baby faunus before?"

"Actually, no… Are they always fuzzy?"

"Yes, it's another reason we get the 'animal' crap from humans."

"Ah… So they will eventually lose it then?"

"They should completely lose their baby fur by six or seven years old."

He nodded and they fell silent but after a moment of him studying them Blake sighed.

"Do you want to hold one of them?"

Roman gave her a surprised look then nodded slightly.

"You know how to hold a baby?"

"It's been a long time but yes, I know."

She nodded and let him take the baby in the middle of the three, then adjusted the other two. Roman carefully held the little thing as her eyes focused him with wonder. The baby girl had one eye violet like Yang and one eye gold like Blake, her fur was in patches of black and blond.

"She… looks like sun shining through the trees… like a shadow of the leaves." He noted softly as he watched her little black ear twitch, then the blond one did too after a moment, causing him to chuckle.

Blake thought on that a moment then mumbled. "Sombra then…"

Before Roman could ask, a couple of nurses came in to get the little ones and let Blake rest.

"I'll carry her." Roman stated firmly when one of the nurses tried to take Sombra from him. She just shrugged and took the other babies from Blake. Roman noted that one had solid black fur and violet eyes. The third baby had blond hair and gold eyes.

Blake was asleep before they had fully left the room. he followed the nurses, glancing between the little faunus triplets as they went.

"So I guess you're an uncle now?" One of the nurses spoke up suddenly.

Roman glanced up at her as he thought about that then nodded. "I'm married to the father's sister."

"Exciting huh?"

"Yeah…" He admitted, still chewing on the first fact.

He was an uncle now. He couldn't help but remember his own uncle, Neo's father, and he had to fight back a scowl.

Roman didn't want to ever be like that man. So he made up his mind then. He would be the best uncle to ever live, he would be his nieces' favorite person.

Once they reached the nursery he let them take Sombra inside and he watched them get settled through the big glass window. After the nurses had gone on to take care of other things he got out his scroll and called Tara to see where she had ended up, she had gone back home and offered to come get him but he told her to just stay put, he'd find another ride home. Once he ended the call he called Neo.

"You need to come see this."

"Where are you?"

"Uh… one of the local hospitals… Just trace the call."

"Okay…. uh, there, got it."

"I'm on the third floor, near the nursery."

"Okay… Roro I don't think you wanna steal those."

He chuckled. "Nonono, just come see."

She sighed and hung up on him. While waiting on her he noticed a strange shadow in the reflection behind him but when he glanced that way he saw nothing. Looking back to the glass he saw the reflection on his other side now showed his ice cream colored cousin.

"Ahh, I see."

"Yep. I have nieces."

"They are mine too, I'm claiming them."

Roman just chuckled and shook his head.

"By the way you look like you got in a fight with a dominatrix and lost."

"Thanks."

"Ya' better have a better explanation than that or at least the sense to deny it when that wife of yours gets back."

"Just take me home, would you?"

"I guess I can, but there had better be ice cream." She shrugged as they turned for the hall.

\------------------------------------------------------

Late the next day Roman was sitting on the couch playing Minecraft again when the front door opened and Drei started barking.

"Aww! Drei did you miss me?" Ruby asked in the foyer.

"Blake! We're back!" Yang called, walking into the living room. "Where is she?"

"Hospital." Roman replied tiredly, not thinking.

Yang flew over the couch and grabbed Roman by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up to meet her angry red eyes. "What the hell did you do?"

Roman narrowed his own green eyes. "Nothing, you should see what she did to me though."

Ruby came rushing in then. "No, Yang, put him down!"

"Why. Is. My. Wife. In. The. Hospital?" Yang growled, tightening her grip so Roman's own collar would start to choke him.

"She. Gave. Birth." He growled back.

Yang's eyes went wide and changed back to purple as she dropped him.

"You should go see the kids… they're cute." Roman grumbled from the floor, rubbing his neck.

Yang headed back for the door while getting out her scroll and Ruby hugged Roman.

"You okay?"

"I'll be fine, go with her."

Ruby nodded and followed her sister.

Roman sighed as the door closed again and then got back into his spot and resumed his game. He could already tell these kids were going to be chaos.


	2. A series of surprises!

Yang looked over her cards, she had more in her hand then her opponents so she felt good. Of course she felt good anyway, considering her luck in months past. She grinned as she remembered again the looks on the faces of those sitting at this table with her when she'd told them the news. Roman had just lit a cigar and Junior was about to get them each a drink when she'd spoken up.

"Roman, you ought to put that out."

"Why?"

"Well, you promised Blake and I that you wouldn't smoke around our children."

"They aren't here." Roman furrowed his brow at her.

"True, the girls are at home… but." She paused to rub her belly. "The newest editions are here with me!"

Roman chuckled and put out his cigar. "Fair enough. Congratulations."

"Have you picked names yet?" Neo asked.

"Not yet, we don't even know if they are boys or girls yet, or both. Just that they are twins."

Neo flashed Roman a mischievous look and leaned over to whisper something to him while Junior spoke to Yang.

"Congrats, so I'm guessing something non-alcoholic for you."

"You got it."

Now that she thought back on it though that probably explained why Roman had suggested they play for bets this time. They had each written down a a bet, the winner would then get to look at the bets and chose which of the losers had to do which bet. However she wasn't really worried, she noticed as the game progressed that Roman and Neo were slowly getting a lot more drunk than Junior.

She, however, had not had anything to drink that might impair her judgement. She was sure she would win. That confidence ran out a turn later when Neo played a card that took half Yangs cards from her then Roman played the same card and targeted Yang again. Suddenly she had the least cards of anyone playing.

She glanced to her right, Junior had seven cards, across from her Roman had nine and to her left Neo had fifteen cards now. Leaving her with three.

"Sorry Blondie, you're open." Junior said before playing one of his cards that forced her to discard two cards.

Yang grumbled and set her cards down, she only had one left and it was her turn. With no deck to draw from she had just lost.

"Reverse order." She sighed, playing her last card.

"That makes it my turn." Junior chuckled.

Yang crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair to watch the game play out. Junior was the next to run out of cards and it became a somewhat heated battle between Roman and Neo, neither liking to lose. Finally it ended with Roman playing his last card to force Neo to discard her last two.

It was a draw.

After a quick discussion Roman and Neo agreed that they had both won and would each pick a bet for the two losers. Roman scooped up the bet papers and Neo moved over to read them over his shoulder.

"Junior, you have to wash my car for the next month." Roman announced, showing the bet. To which Junior sighed.

"Yang, you have to name at least one of you newborns opposite their gender. If you have two boys, one must have a girl's name and vice a versa. If you happen to have a boy and a girl you must switch both their names." Neo stated, showing Yang the bet.

"Damn.." Yang grumbled. "Blake is gonna kill me."

\--------------------------------------------------------

It was late when Yang returned home so she was surprised to see Blake and the three toddlers up. Sombra was sitting next to the couch, coloring in a coloring book, Yang smiled at the girl coloring the kitty in the picture a dark purple. Narzisse was tying ribbons into her blond hair and Lila was snuggled up to Blake on the couch flipping through a picture book.

"Everybody's up." Yang noted.

"Sombra had a nightmare and then the rest of us couldn't get back to sleep." Blake explained.

"Oh, I see." Yang flopped onto the couch opposite Lila, draping an arm over Blake's shoulders.

"How'd your card game go?"

"Well… You see…"

"I take it you lost."

"Yeah…"

"How much did it cost us?"

"Well… you see, that's the thing. We weren't playing for money. We were playing for bets."

Blake glanced up from her book to look Yang in the eyes and waited for her to continue.

"So it turns out… If we have boys one has to have a girls name… And if we have girls one has to have a boys name… and if we have both then the girl gets a boys name and the boy gets a girls name."

Blake sighed and rubbed her face.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's fine… I'll figure something out. But that means I'm naming them."

Yang nodded. She wasn't too upset, having named Lila and Narzisse she saw nothing wrong with Blake naming the twins she carried.

\--------------------------------------

It was nearly a month later Yang found herself at her sister's mansion, in the kitchen to be exact. Ruby should be returning soon, Yang knew, she'd been out on a hunt but had completed it. Roman was in Atlas on business so Yang had decided she'd welcome her little sister home.

"Did you ever have kids?" Yang asked Tara who was washing dishes while Yang dug through the fridge.

"It was a long time ago but yes. They are all grown and moved off."

"Is that hard? Them living far away?"

"It is… I worry but I know well they can handle themselves and are fine." After all, Tara thought to herself, they were both generals in the White Fang.

"Do they talk to you often?"

"When they can, their work keeps them busy."

"Oh, I see…" Yang noted as she spotted what she was looking for. She grabbed up the items and closed the fridge then set to work fixing a sandwich. Yang mixed mayo and Sriracha to spread on the bread, then layered on banana peppers and jalapenos followed by pepper jack cheese and ham.

"Craving spicy, eh?" Tara asked, glancing over at Yang after smelling the peppers.

Yang nodded as she stuffed her face.

Tara chuckled as she dried her hands and started drying the dishes she had just washed. There were only a few which would explain why she had not bothered with the dish washer. Tara was nearly finished putting the clean dishes away when she glanced out the window and nodded to herself, she took a plate down from the cabinet and started fixing a sandwich which Yang recognized as one of Ruby's favorites. Just as she set a chilled glass of milk next to the sandwich Ruby walked in.

"Hey, sis!" Yang smiled at her tired little sister.

"Yo." Ruby replied, grabbing up the sandwich and taking a bite. She slowly smiled and looked over to Tara. "Thanks."

"Mhmm." Tara nodded, finishing what she had been doing before.

"So how'd the hunt go?" Yang asked.

"Well enough, there were more Grimm than originally thought but they were no match for me."

"That's my sis." Yang beamed.

"So how's Blake and the girls?"

"Blake's been in contact with Weiss quite a bit lately over Clan stuff. The girls turned two last week so… Yeah, unholy terrors."

Ruby chuckled. "They can't be that bad."

"Bet me." Yang then frowned at the last few bites of her sandwich. "You guys need more more spicy food around here."

"We don't eat a lot of it, really. Blake craved mint and fish didn't she?"

"Yeah, and two of the girls can't stand spicy food. I'm not sure why everything I eat has to be spicy I mean, this morning I made myself some scrambled eggs and I used most of a jar of jalapenos."

"Geeze, sis."

Yang could only shrug.

\----------------------------------------------

It was several months later an excited Yang came bouncing into Ruby's back yard, Sombra in tow. Ruby and Roman were sitting at a patio table, enjoying lemonade and Roman was smoking a cigar, seeing Yang and the bumblekit though, he immediately put it out. Yang pulled up a chair and drew the little two year old into her lap, smiling wide.

"You look like you have news." Ruby laughed.

"I do!" Yang practically sang.

Roman pulled off his hat and dropped it over Sombra's head, it was far too big for her and she giggled as she tried to adjust it to where she could see.

"I just got back from the doctors a little while ago, did a sonogram and guess what!"

"Your babies are fuzzy?" Roman guessed.

Yang blinked, momentarily confused as that should have been a given with Blake as the 'father' but she quickly recovered. "Yes, well one of them is but, they are both boys!"

"That's great!" Ruby smiled.

"Have you picked names yet?" Roman grinned.

"Actually, yes. Blake picked them. Sorin and Soleil. Soleil is the female variant of Sorin so it still fills the bet."

"And not too girly." Ruby grinned.

Roman nodded. "Those are actually pretty nice names."

Yang grinned.

After talking for a while Yang's scroll rang, Blake needed her to come home for some reason so she headed out. After she was gone Roman turned to Ruby, looking her in the eyes.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's just that both you and Yang were infertile and now she is able to have kids but you still can't… I just wanted to make sure it wasn't bothering you."

"Nah, I'm not worried about it. I'm just happy for Yang."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah." Ruby smiled. "I'm sure."

\----------------------------------------------

"Seven months! You're almost there." Ruby smiled at her sister. The two were sitting at Roman's favorite diner. "Are you excited?"

"Of course!" Yang stated but she looked a bit troubled as she poked at the jalapenos in her chocolate malt with the straw. "I'm just a little worried is all."

"What about?"

"Well, one is normal for a cat Faunus. He's got a tail but his brother appears to have a deformed back and I'm really nervous about it." She shook her head and sighed. "I'm worried he won't be healthy and won't be able to do things like his siblings can."

"I'm sure everything will be fine Yang, he may seem different but even if it's rough you know we will all love him just the same." Ruby assured with a smile.

"Yeah…" She shook her worries aside and went back to drinking her malt. "Ah, heaven in a glass."

Ruby giggled and shook her head. "You're crazy, sis."

Yang shrugged as she enjoyed her cold and spicy treat. The glass was half empty before Yang spoke again. "So remind me again why you and Roman picked what you did for last name."

"Well, after everything that happened we both agreed it was wise to change his name as well as mine when we got married and Rosewick is a name people remember after the war. Without having bad memories tied to it."

Yang nodded. "Oh yeah, I get it."

The little bell over the door rang and Roman walked in, carrying three kits and looking tired and annoyed. Sombra sat on his shoulders, she was wearing a pair of Ruby's tights on her head and mismatched socks on her arms but was otherwise dressed somewhat like a normal child. She waved her arms in the air and yelled. "Munchy Yum Yums!"

Roman stomped over to the table. "What exactly is she wanting?"

"I'm not sure, it's something Blake makes for her." Yang shrugged.

"Then call your wife and ask." Roman practically growled as Sombra pulled his hair and continued demanding while the other two joined in.

"I can't, she's in the middle of an important Faunus rights meeting with the council." Yang frowned.

"Uh… Maybe I could help?" The waitress suggested as she set down the refill of Ruby's drink.

"Give it your best shot, she's been at this for hours and can't really explain." Roman sighed.

The waitress pressed her tray to her over sized chest and leaned forward so she could get the kit's attention. Roman turned his head to the side to avoid looking down the waitress's shirt and when his eyes met Ruby's he seemed to calm down a little.

"Hi there little one, you wanna come with me to look at a menu and show me what Munchy Yum Yums are?" She asked, looking Sombra in her mismatched purple and gold eyes.

"Munchy Yum Yums!" The kit cheered.

The waitress chuckled and pulled Sombra off of Roman's shoulders, carrying her over to a table and setting her in a chair before getting out a menu and laying it open while Roman settled the other two at the same table.

The menu had some pictures and the three kits stared down at it in silence, Sombra frowning. Lila pushed her black hair away from her lilac eyes, her little hands still covered in black fur.

Narzisse, the blond, started pointing out a few different dishes and said. "Bits."

"Bits, huh? Well I'll bring these out and you guys show me what is used to make it." She offered and the girls grinned up at her.

With a smile she took the menu and headed off to put in the order.

Once the waitress was out of sight Narzisse slipped out of her chair, turned round and grabbed it then pushed it across the floor while screaming. Despite the fact that Roman had been charged with watching them for the day Yang would have none of her children misbehaving in her presence. She stood, stalked over to the little blond and reached down, grabbing Narzisse by the fur and loose skin on the back of her neck and picking her up. The kit fell silent, tucking her legs and arms close to her and going stiff as Yang brought her up to her face. "You may get away with that at home but you will not do it in public and bother other people, understand?"

Little tears welled in the golden eyes.

"None of that!" Yang snapped. "You aren't crying to get out of this."

Narzisse blinked the tears away and pouted silently as her mother grabbed the chair with her free hand and replaced it at the table, setting the kit back in it.

Though, it seemed a little pointless in this place, the only people they ever saw here was the same waitress and people Roman had invited here at one point or another, there was never anyone else around that they saw.

Yang returned to her seat and her conversation with Ruby, Roman sat with the kits and waited for the food to arrive. It did a short while later, biscuits and gravy, along with a chicken strip dinner that came with gravy, fries and toast.

"Now girls, show me, what is this 'Munchy Yum Yums'?" The waitress asked.

"We need more dis." Lila informed her, holding up a piece of toast with one furry little hand. With that the kits started dumping the gravy off the biscuits, replacing them with the thick sliced toast.

"Huh. That's easy enough, I'll get ya'll sweeties some more toast." She smiled then headed back to the kitchen.

Roman took the basket with the remaining fries and chicken strips along with the unwanted biscuits and munched on them while the girls split the toast they had.

Once the toddlers had finished eating and making smiley faces out of gravy on the table Roman cleaned them up with a mountain of napkins then ushered them back out to the car.

"Sorry about the mess." Yang apologized to the waitress.

"Oh it's no trouble darlin'." The waitress smiled then focused on her job at hand.

Yang turned back to her food, taking an entire shaker of cayenne pepper to her burger. She put it together and took a bite then mumbled. "Not spicy enough…"

Table cleaned, the waitress came over with a new, unopened shaker, set it down and moved on to something else.

\-----------------------------------------------------

After lunch Yang and Ruby headed back to the mansion on their respective motorcycles. The scene that greeted them in the driveway was not only strange but highly amusing.

Roman was tangled badly in the seat belt of his car, how he'd ended up with his body through the loop they couldn't fathom but the wreck-locks had engaged. He was stuck and looked none too amused.

Outside the car were the three girls, they had their crayons out and were drawing on the driveway. Yang pulled up beside them and parked, Ruby behind her, and looked at the colorful picture, she couldn't tell what it was supposed to be though.

"What are you girls doing?" Yang asked.

"Help Roro!" Lila cheered.

"Finish plan!" Sombra stated, pointing at the drawing.

"To do..?" Yang pressed.

"BLOW UP DA CAR!" Narzisse said enthusiastically.

Sombra ran over to the tailpipe of the car. "Yucky greens go here!"

"Uh huh." Yang said with an amused but disbelieving look on her face. "But you don't even have any celery."

The three girls hissed at the mention of the baleful vegetable. While Yang discussed the plans with her kits Ruby walked over to the very done Roman and patted him on the head. "I'll go get Brawn."

"Thank you."

Ruby headed off to find the Faunus who would most likely be able to help.

"So, let me get this straight, you stuff celery into the tailpipe and the car will explode and your dear uncle will be freed?" Yang asked.

The three toddler-fuzzballs nodded.

"Did you stop to think that maybe your uncle doesn't want his car blown up?"

They glanced at each other then pouted up at Yang.

"I didn't think so." She chuckled then ruffled the hair of each in turn.

Ruby returned with Brawn, who quickly reached around Roman and did something with the seatbelt, whatever he did caused it to loosen so Roman could escape.

"Thanks, remind me to fix you a drink later." Roman said, trying to straighten his back out. Brawn only nodded then slipped off to return to what he had been doing before.

"You should go get some rest." Ruby noted, looking at her exhausted husband who looked like a slight breeze might blow him over.

"Blake will be home tonight so I'll be taking the girls home." Yang smiled.

"Mama!" The three kits cheered together.

Roman nodded and ambled off towards the house. Ruby chuckled, shutting the car door then scooping up the mini blond. "Let's go gather up your stuff, 'K?"

"'K!" She smiled.

The other two followed Ruby and their sister into the house with Yang bringing up the rear. The fiery and very pregnant blond helped her sister and daughters pack the few things they'd brought.

"Would you like me to drive them home?" Tara asked, having noted Yang driving her motorcycle.

"Sure, thank you."

"No trouble." She smiled, taking the now packed bags to load them in her SUV.

"Guess I'll see you later." Yang smiled, hugging Ruby.

"Tell Blake I said hi."

"I will, come on girls."

"Bye, Aunty Ruby." Sombra said as her sisters waved.

With them on their way home Ruby made sure Roman hadn't died, giving him a back rub as reward for keeping up with the three toddlers.

\-------------------------------------

It had taken a while to get the three girls settled but finally they had and now Yang was settled into bed next to her wife, who was reading a book. They had chattered for a while earlier to catch each other up on events and now was the typical night routine with Yang wearing wireless headphones to watch TV while Blake read.

The headphones had started to beep now and then though, signalling that the battery was dying and Yang sighed, took them off, switched them off and plugged them into the charger next to the bed before hitting the power button on the TV remote. She then wiggled down and got snuggled in to sleep.

Just as she dozed off, something slipped through the shadows of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Editor2's note: I'd just like to mention that Soleil is not actually the female variant of Sorin, they're just similar but for the sake of the story we'll just go with that explanation.


	3. Surprises Continue!

Through the shadows something moved silently in the main bedroom of the Bumblebee household. Yang just barely asleep and Blake absorbed by her book, neither suspected the ice cream Torchwick to suddenly appear at their bedside and grab Yang by the arm and start pulling her out of bed.

"Come on Blondie, let's go." Neo said.

"Wait, what?" Yang stammered as Blake glanced up from her book. The startled and pregnant blond grabbed the door frame. "Where are you taking me?!"

"To get chocolate and pepper milk shakes."

"Oh, alright then." Yang smiled, letting go of the door frame. "Weeeeee."

Blake chuckled and went back to her book.

They arrived at a late night food joint shortly after, the place putting as spicy of peppers into the shakes as the two women could handle.

"Not pregnant and I have to admit these are pretty good." Neo noted.

"See? I'm not crazy." Yang laughed. "So, I haven't heard of you raiding fridges lately, you been out of town?"

"Yes, Atlas, keeping the ice queen's bed warm." She replied slyly.

"Oh, My~."

"Yes, quite."

The two continued the semi-lewd banter as they enjoyed the spicy ice cream and the odd friendship they shared. That is, until Neo noticed Yang's eyes were red.

"Uh, what's up with the semblance of yours?"

"Hm?"

"Your eyes… You alright?"

"Been some pains over the past few minutes…" Yang admitted. "I'm sure it's noth-"

"What? What's wrong?" Neo frowned.

"Um…" Yang gave Neo a blank expression. "They're coming."

"What?"

"The babies."

"OH!" Neo stood so fast she sent her chair skittering away and the glasses on the table fell over. "OH NO, WHAT DO WE DO?!"

"Hospital?" Yang offered, trying to get up and remember to breathe.

Neo's eyes had turned white and she was flailing her arms about, having completely lost her composure. "UH! UM! HOSPITAL! RIGHT!" She rushed for the door, then ran back, realizing she'd left Yang behind. As she helped the blond back out of the shop she yelled to the teen behind the counter she'd pay later.

He didn't really seem to care.

Once in the car Neo ran red lights and stop signs, luckily it was late enough no one was out and she somehow had enough of her wits left to avoid speed traps. They reached a hospital in under ten minutes and again Neo rushed about in a panic as Yang tried to get out of the car.

"WHATDOWEDOWHATDOWEDO." Neo panicked as they headed for the emergency room.

"I don't know! I wasn't around for this part last time!" Yang snapped, slightly irritated having to deal with not only labor pains but an abnormally spastic Neo.

Once through the doors though the nurses ran over and took over helping Yang, leaving the panicked crime boss in the lobby.

"Uh, calls. . . I should make calls. . ." Neo stammered to herself as she got out the phone and quickly rummaged through her contacts. She hit one, little did she know it was not the one she wanted and it dialed.

"Hello?" Came a sleepy male voice.

"AAHM AT HOSPITAL IT'S HAPPENING WHAT DO I DO?"

"Neo…?" The man sounded confused. "What's happening, do you know what time it is?"

"JUST GET DOWN HERE." Neo exclaimed then hung up, only then realizing she'd missed Roman and dialed Junior by mistake.

She bit her lip in frustration and tried again, this time managing to call Roman.

"What." Roman groaned into his scroll.

"ROMAN HELP!"

"What's wrong?" He asked, waking quickly at her panicked tone, he knew it took a lot to shake his cousin.

"I STOLE THE PREGNANT MAMA AND NOW BABIES ARE COMING OUT HELP ME!"

"Wait, Neo, slow down, what's happening?" He pressed, sitting up and waking Ruby in the process.

"YANG, CHILDREN, HOSPITAL, NOW!"

"I'm on my way!" Roman assured, hanging up and barely thinking to throw clothes on.

"Eh?" Ruby frowned as Roman rushed out of the room.

Neo frowned at her scroll after Roman hung up then realized she should call Blake.

"What did you do?" Blake asked when she answered.

"I DIDN'T DO IT IT'S NOT MY FAULT."

"What?" Blake growled. "Explain."

"BABIES ARE HAPPENING I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO I REGRET EVERYTHING."

"Hospital?" Blake offered, calming down slightly as she realized Yang wasn't in some sort of danger.

"IS HERE, NO WE'RE HERE. I DON'T KNOW COME HERE!"

Blake sighed and hung up then quickly got dressed and went to get the girls up.

\----------------------------------------------

Ruby frowned at Roman's abandoned scroll and picked it up, checking the last call. Seeing it was from Neo she called her back.

"What is going on?"

"WHY ARE YOU NOT ROMAN?" Neo's panicked voice filtered over.

"Because he forgot his scroll and I'm wondering what put him in such a rush." Ruby replied flatly.

"YOU SISTER, KITTENS, NOW."

"Oh, I'm on my way!" Ruby stated, hanging up and heading out after quickly getting dressed. She excitedly called her father on her way out the door, though it would be a while before he'd get there, seeing as how he was in Patch.

\------------------------------------------------

"What is going on?" Junior asked as he walked up to a still frantic Neo.

"AAAAH!" She seemed almost incapable of words and for several moments made incoherent noises at him.

"She brought her pregnant friend in a few minutes ago and has been panicking ever since." The woman behind the desk offered. "The woman is currently in labor."

"Oh, Blondie's having her tots?" Junior turned back to Neo who nodded.

"I didn't mean to call you."

"Eh, it's fine, I'm up and I'm here I might as well stick around." He shrugged and went to sit down in one of the chairs along the wall.

Several minutes later Blake arrived, which confused Neo because she had called Roman before her.

"Watch them." Blake instructed Neo, leaving the triplets with her and going to the desk. After a few quick words she was taken through the doors Yang had been taken and was gone.

Next to show up was Ruby. "Where's Roman?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Neo practically wailed.

"Okay…" Ruby glanced around nervously before going to the desk and explaining who she was, she too was taken to the delivery room.

Time ticked by.

Finally Roman arrived, looking exhausted after running the whole way, having forgotten he owned a car that had tried to eat him earlier that day. Or perhaps it was the day before at this point.

"RORO!" Neo ran over to him, shaken and traumatized.

"Uh." He frowned then flopped into a chair next to Junior.

"I REGRET EVERYTHING." Neo wailed.

"Has she had them yet?" Roman asked Junior.

"Don't think so, or she's not done yet, Ruby and Blake are with her though."

"Good."

"AAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA"

"Neo, chill."

"Call your girlfriend or something." Junior suggested.

Neo did that, making incoherent noises and whining at Weiss until she could calm down.

Roman kept up with the kits, not minding looking after them, sleepy as they were.

"Kinda cute when they are sleeping." Junior admitted, Narzisse curled up in his lap.

"They are the best." Roman agreed, hugging the other two in his arms.

\-----------------------------------------------

Weiss sat cross legged in the middle of her bed in her dark room frowning at the clock that displayed the time to be three in the morning as she listened to Neo's incapability to speak. When her multicolored girlfriend finally stopped for a breath Weiss spoke up.

"Are you hurt? Being tortured? Is a ransom expected of me?"

"No?" Neo squeaked.

"Then slow down and explain clearly because you aren't making any sense."

"It's, I… decided late night ice cream was something Yang needed but she went into labor while we were out." Neo said quietly, having worn herself out.

"Oh." Weiss smiled to herself in her lonely room. "That's good, I hope they're healthy."

"... me too."

They talked for a while, Weiss effectively calming Neo down to the point she could compose herself again.

"I need to go, it's past the point of being late and is now only a couple hours till I need to be up." Weiss said.

"Alright, sorry for waking you."

"It's fine. Tell Yang congratulations for me will you?"

"Yeah."

"I'll talk to you later."

"'Kay."

Weiss hung up, not looking at the time spent on her scroll, just falling back to her pillows. She found herself missing her old team and she wished them well.

\----------------------------------------

Time seemed to drag by but finally one of the nurses came to tell those in the waiting room that they could see Yang and the babies now. They followed the nurse to Yang's room, Junior having given the still sleeping Narzisse to Neo, Roman carrying the other two sleeping girls.

They got to the room to find Blake holding a black fluffball wrapped in a blue blanket. Yang was carefully and almost awkwardly holding another bundle in a blue blanket. Both twins boys as the sonograms had predicted.

However, the mood in the room was oddly somber. Yang had tears in her eyes as she looked at the sleeping child in her arms and they weren't tears of joy.

Junior felt out of place in the less than happy moment so he bid a quiet congratulations and slipped back out of the room again.

"What…?" Roman asked, stepping closer. He feared the child in her arms wasn't breathing but once he got closer he saw the sleeping boy who had just a few wefts of blond hair on his head and was sleeping.

Ruby only gave Roman a sad look when he glanced at her in confusion. He glanced back down at Yang, gently sitting on the edge of her bed and laying Sombra and Lila gently across her legs before looking closer at the child in her arms.

"This is Soleil." Yang said quietly, her voice cracking a bit. She shifted the blankets so Roman could she the boy's back and the strange bulge which explained why she was holding him so strangely. Other than that he looked like a regular human baby. "He didn't cry when he was born and he's been unconscious ever since… The doctors don't think he's going to make it…" Yang's voice broke and she fell into quiet sobs.

Neo's eyes went white again and her expression matched her sudden heartbreak. "What about the other one?"

"He's fine, this is Sorin." Blake offered, showing the awake and content faunus newborn. He didn't have cat ears on his head like Blake and the triplets but he was covered in black fur with violet eyes.

Neo nodded and offered a sad smile before glancing back at the child in Yang's arms.

"I may never see him open his eyes." She sobbed quietly.

"Don't lose hope, he still has a chance." Ruby offered.

"What chance?!" Yang snapped, eyes flaring red as she looked up at her sister who shrank back under the brunt of her sister's pained rage.

"Mama?" Sombra's sleepy voice reached them and all eyes turned on the little kit. Sombra sat up, rubbing her eyes and when she saw the baby she gasped. "Is dis my browder?"

"Yes…" Yang said softly, her eyes fading back to violate. "His name is Soleil and he…. He may not be able to play with you like other children."

Sombra frowned at that, softly and very gently reaching up and poking his little cheek. "That's okay, that's just who he is." It didn't seem to bother her that her brother would be different but not a soul in the room could bare to tell the kit that he may not live long either.

"This is your other brother, Sorin." Blake said, leaning closer so she could see.

"Hi." She waved at him when she realized he was awake. He made soft, kitten-like squeaky sounds at her in reply, causing her to giggle.

\------------------------------------

It was a couple hours later when Taiyang finally arrived to meet his newest grandchildren, the other two girls awake and have gotten the chance to meet their brothers.

After seeing the dark mood Blake pulled Taiyang aside and explained the situation to him, away from the girls so they wouldn't hear, no one wanted them to have to suffer the worry that he might die. He returned to the room and replaced Roman in the spot on the bed, talking with Yang softly. She wouldn't let anyone hold Soleil, she wouldn't let him go, the hospital staff said there was nothing they could do for the boy so she refused to let him go. She was still talking with her father, Roman and Neo asleep in chairs across the room and Ruby sitting on the foot of the bed when the sun rose and its first rays of light filtered through the windows. Blake's shadow fell over the triplets as the light flooded in, shining over Yang and Soleil.

When that happened Soleil very suddenly started to cry. Very loud and very healthy. In the midst of his fussing and fit they all got to glimpse his eyes, a bright red like Yang's when she was angry.

Roman and Neo were startled awake, but when they realized who was crying they almost joined the kid, though it was happy tears.

Blake relaxed for the first time in hours and Taiyang let out a long sigh and smiled.

Yang was caught between laughs and sobs.

"I told you." Ruby smiled.

No sooner had she said that did Soleil's cries took a very pained edge. Yang tensed and quickly pushed the blankets away from his back, investigating what she'd felt and indeed, something inside the bulge was moving.

"What's wrong?!" Lila squeaked in panic.

Everyone froze, terrified.

Soleil cried harder as the sun grew brighter and shined stronger on him.

Roman ran to the doorway and screamed for a doctor and one quickly joined them, stunned to silence when he saw the moving bulge under the baby's skin.

"What's happening?!" Yang demanded but the doctor had no answer for her.

Soleil screamed in pain and the triplets huddled together, afraid.

Yang adjusted her hold, keeping his head supported but not touching the bulge in fear of causing him more pain. The skin on his back was quickly getting very dry and brittle then quite suddenly there was a loud crack and something black burst forth from the bulge, the skin that had kept that area covered peeling away like a bad sunburn.

He stopped crying, gasping for air.

Everyone stared in stunned silence as Soleil contently flexed a pair of black wings.

Taiyang was the first to speak.

"My great grandfather wasn't crazy." He said softly, reaching up to run his fingers along the velvety little wings.

"I don't…. understand." Yang said, staring at her son in complete shock.

"My great grandfather used to tell me that his grandfather was a dragon faunus and that that's how we got our family name…. I thought he was crazy." Her father explained.

"But Dragon Faunus are nearly extinct!" Blake blurted, astounded.

"Recessive genes are funny that way…" The doctor said, finally pulling himself together.

Soleil made happy, scratchy squeaky sounds as he flexed his wings and looked up at the faces in the room with the open wonder only a newborn could have.

The doctor checked the baby over again and stated that he was healthy and would be fine now.

The triplets finally edged closer again, all wanting to touch his wings, they were gentle and he didn't seem to mind it.

Neo got a picture of the two newborns and their parents before wishing everyone well and heading home, she was tired and it had been a far longer night than she had intended.

Yang finally let others hold Soleil and she held Sorin for a bit, his sisters getting him to bat at their fingers when they wiggled them in his face but when it became clear that Yang needed to rest the nurses started showing everyone out, taking the babies to the nursery.

\------------------------------------

Weiss was in the middle of paperwork when her scroll buzzed, with a sigh she picked it up and looked, it was a picture message and a moment later she was glad she'd taken the time to look, smiling at the message Neo had sent with the picture of the newborn kitten and dragon faunus twins.

\----------------------------------------

It wasn't long after returning home from the hospital that Yang's worry over Soleil renewed all over again as she quickly realized the child didn't sleep. He'd be calm and quiet, almost sickly at night, causing her to sit with him often, rocking him and his brother in a chair as she hummed a soft and soothing tune. A few times she could get him to doze while she sat in the full sun of mid afternoon but it was typically short lived.

Trips to the doctor were frequent but as best the doctor could tell the boy was healthy. It was yet another of these trips, Yang sitting in the doctor's office as he told her he'd decided to contact a semblance expert and have him have a look at the boy. She agreed and continued waiting as the doctor went to fetch the other man, leaving her to her thoughts, Sorin and Soleil were about two months old and it felt like Soleil was turning out to be a very unusual boy. Yet his brother seemed much more normal and while she didn't really mind, she loved them both no matter how they turned out, but she did worry how others would treat them growing up...

Yang was still sitting anxiously as the newcomer entered the room, kneeling wordlessly to look her child over, checking various things before finally turning to look up at her.

"As unusual as it is, your doctor is right, his semblance is already active and likely has been since he was born from what I can tell."

"Is that what's causing him not to sleep though?"

The man nodded. "Think of his semblance as similar to that of solar technology. He is literally absorbing the light of the sun, it gives his body all the energy and most benefits that would normally be gained from sleeping."

"Oh… I think I get it.."

"There is more to it, though. It may develop and become stronger over time as he gains control of the solar energy but, I am quite certain if he is allowed to truly fall asleep, especially at night or in the dark, he will die."

"We'll be careful not to let that happen." She stated firmly, determined. She'd let Blake and the rest of the family know this once she got home to prevent any mistakes. This did set her mind to some extent though and she visibly relaxed. "Thank you for figuring this out."

"It's no trouble, don't be afraid to contact me again if anything else of this nature arises." He said and handed her his card before leaving.

Ever so relieved she hugged her son tightly but gently before standing and heading for the door as well, thanking the doctor on her way out, he had remained at the door so as not to crowd the others.

He gave a bright smile and replied. "I'm just glad that little mystery is solved, have a safe trip home Mrs Xiao Long."

Humming her reply she left, pausing outside and smiling down at her son as he squealed happily in the warm sunlight, admiring the slight glow of his blond hair and the gold markings that started becoming apparent along the forearms of his velvety wings.

She couldn't think of anything more beautiful at that moment.


	4. Ice cream and Kit shinanigans

"You're sure you're fine watching all five of them alone?" Ruby asked as Sombra stuck her finger up Romans nose.

He pulled the little hand from his face and nodded. "I'll be fine, you just make sure to come back safe."

Ruby kissed him and smiled. "Don't worry, we will be fine."

"You be sure to behave for your uncle Roman." Yang was telling the other two girls who both nodded.

"Same for the both of you." Blake added to the twin boys who looked nothing alike.

They nodded and once heartfelt goodbyes were said and hugs shared the three huntresses left, leaving Roman with five children and a dog standing at the door.

Sorin was the first to do or say anything, pulling off his shirt then claiming to be cold and clinging to his brother.

"Then why did you take you take your shirt off?" Roman questioned the boy.

"It itches my fur…"

"Oh."

"Uncle Roro… I want munchy yumyums!" Sombra spoke up suddenly.

Roman sighed. "Who else is suddenly hungry?"

Four little hands shot into the air in answer.

"Fine. Sorin, put your shirt back on and we will go."

Once they arrived at the diner, the same one where the lovely waitress had figured out what exactly 'munchy yumyums' were four years prior, they took their usual booth.

The waitress came over, smiling warmly at the lot. "The usual?"

"Yep."

She nodded and headed off to put in the order, returning a few minutes later with a tray of drinks. Coffee for Roman, milk for each of the girls, hot chocolate for Sorin and orange juice for Soleil. What surprised Roman was when she set down a tall cappuccino of assumably Neo's favorite flavor in front of the empty spot next to Sorin. However he decided not to question it. After that the waitress headed off to clean a table that had just been abandoned.

Roman heard the little bell over the door as the people who had just finished paying left. Then it jingled again and Roman glanced up to see Neo just as she rounded the corner and stepped up into the area he and the kits usually sat at then sat next to Sorin.

"Roro."

"Neo."

"I don't like orange juice anymore." Soleil piped in suddenly. All eyes turned to the four year old.

"What brings the sudden aversion?" Neo tilted her head.

"I dunno…"

"Come'on Soli, just drink it." Roman encouraged.

"No." With that the small blond curled to his side, tucked his wings behind him then stuck his feet straight up in the air while hanging his head off the seat with his little arms crossed. All that was visible above the table were his shorts and legs sticking straight up. He held his feet rigid as if standing on the floor, so Neo set the salt shaker on one foot and the pepper on the other.

Roman let out a long sigh.

"Everything alright?" The waitress asked when she came over to check on them, noticing the odd scene but not seeming surprised by it.

"He suddenly doesn't like orange juice." Roman sighed.

"Hmm…" She noted, taking the glass away. "What would you like instead darlin?"

"Something more… growed up."

"Not coffee though." Roman quickly interjected, knowing it's effects on children and not wanting to risk Soleil falling asleep.

With a nod she took the juice back to the kitchen.

Neo started making paper lotuses with the napkins and stacking them on Soleil's feet. The girls giggled through the whole thing.

The waitress returned, weighed down by a heavy tray that she had to set on the next table before serving. She set a mug down by the now decorated upraised feet. "Apple chai tea with milk."

Little knees bent then launched all the things stacked on Soleils feet into the air, quickly he returned to a proper sitting position, caught the salt and pepper shakers then set them back on the table amid a rain of paper flowers.

For a moment, everyone present just stared at the dragon faunus as he sipped his new drink then smiled wide. "I like it!"

"Good." The waitress chuckled then started setting out the plates of food. Munchy yumyums for all five children, ham egg and cheese sandwich for Roman and a mountain of fries for Neo. "Everything look good?"

"Yes, thank you." Roman smiled.

With a smile and a nod the waitress left.

Neo received the ketchup from Lila while Sombra buried her food in pepper.

Roman smiled and sipped his coffee, silently thanking Ruby once again for coming to him in her time of need all those years ago. Not only had she turned out to be the love of his life she had brought such an amazing family with her without even knowing. Before that fateful day he never would have imagined his life like this.

After breakfast was finished Neo and the kits pestered Roman into taking them to the park. Deciding there was no harm in it, they headed out. He and Neo sat on a bench and watched the kits play.

"How do you do it?" Roman asked after a few minutes.

"Do what?"

"Run an underground crime network and still be able to show your face? After all this time you've never been caught."

"It's like you said, I've never been caught. No one knows who I am, so… I mean, it's easy enough if you're careful. Considering I'm not working with or for a bitch - I think I'm fine. That was your problem. Cinder."

Roman nodded his agreement, he wouldn't have been caught the few times he was if not for the nonsense she had put him through. Not that it really mattered now. Ruby had killed Cinder, ending her reign and allowing Neo to take command.

"OW! Leave me alone!" Narzisse cried.

Roman and Neo both looked up just in time to see Soleil jump from the swings, spread his wings and half glide, half fall into a pair of bullies that were picking on the girls. The larger, older children had been pulling on Narzisse's ears.

The little dragon-faunus-turned-missile managed to knock one of the boys off balance and started hitting him. "Don't touch my sister!"

The bully started screaming and the other one grabbed Soleil by the wings and pulled him off the much bigger kid on the ground. Sorin hopped in and bit that kid on the arm, forcing him to let go of Soleil's wings, he was then batted away like a ball.

Roman stood, Neo close behind, and headed over to break up the fight.

"Worthless Faunus freaks!" The boy who'd been knocked to the ground shouted as he stood and punched Sombra in the face, causing her nose to bleed. The boy laughed, until he realized there was now two of her.

His confusion was short lived as Lila and Narzisse joined in with Sombra and her double in pushing the boy over and sending him rolling down the hill. The second bully had hold of Soleil again, this time by the throat and it looked like Soleil was struggling to breathe. Roman slapped that boy's wrist hard with his cane, forcing him to drop the much smaller faunus boy.

"That's enough." Roman snarled.

"You ain't my dad!" The kid snapped back.

Roman leaned in closer to the kid, giving him a cold stare only a practiced killer could have. The boy swallowed hard then ran away, picking up and dragging the other one after him.

Roman let out a "hmph." As he stood straight again and looked to the kits. Before he could say anything though he was shoved. Stumbling forward then turning to see who had pushed him Roman found himself face to face with a man slightly taller and thrice as bulked as himself.

"You and your little rats are gonna regret picking on me boys."

"I'm not the one going to be regretting anything." Roman growled back, the murderous look returning to his eyes.

Neo was almost startled, she'd not seen Roman like this in years. She ushered the children back and out of the way then started cleaning up Sombra's nose.

"Big talk for a shrimp like you."

A grin crept onto Roman's lips. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"No and I don't give a shit! I'm gonna pummel you into the ground all the same."

"Let's see you try." Roman taunted, grinning.

The other man growled and swung his fist down hard, hitting only air as Roman was already gone. He then received a swift kick to his ass, he stumbled and turned to find Roman examining his fingernails.

"You need to move faster than that if you are going to catch me."

The man yelled in rage and charged Roman, swinging his fists left and right, much faster but easily predictable to a fighter with as much experience as Roman. Roman dodged, causing the man to miss by the narrowest margins which enraged him more. "How dare you protect these faunus scum!"

Roman's grin vanished and he sidestepped, spun and struck the man in the face. "How dare you judge my beautiful family."

Stumbling back the man rubbed his face then growled at Roman, charging him again. The irritated ginger waited until the last minute to duck under the next strike and blocked the following one with his cane, which bent slightly under the strain. Roman spun away and kicked the man, sending him off balance, Roman then charged in and jumped, landing both feet in the middle of the man's back and sending him face first into the dirt.

"You regretting this yet?" Roman asked, standing on the man and bending his weapon back to it's proper angle. The guy only growled in response before shaking Roman off.

Again the predictable punches came as soon as the man was on his feet. Roman continued dodging narrowly, throwing in the occasional punch just to show the man how sloppy he really was. As the man slowed down Roman sped up, throwing three rapid punches in place of one or dodging around behind him and forcing him to turn.

"I'm going to kill you!" The man roared angrily.

About that time two cops patrolling the park looked over after hearing that.

Roman dodged again then made sure he was in view of the officers. He waved at them, pretending to be distracted and letting the other man strike him hard enough to send him into a roll. Roman rolled to his feet and grinned, seeing the police now in a dead run and the man still ambling after him, grinning after landing that hit.

"You sure you don't want to know who I am?"

"Don't matter, I'm gonna have em' write 'scum' on your headstone." The man followed this with another punch that Roman narrowly dodged, he rolled away as if being hit though.

"FREEZE! Vale police!"

Roman stepped back, grinning. The man stopped, glaring at Roman then at the police.

"You are under arrest for assaulting a government official." One officer informed the man, cuffing him.

"Are you alright Mr. Rosewick?" The other officer asked.

"Yes, fine. See to it this man is charged not only for attacking me but also for threatening children in a faunus hate crime."

"Yes sir."

"Wait, what?" The now confused man stammered. "What is he, a judge or something?"

"Try something closer to a senator." The first cop snapped.

Roman tipped his hat. "Roman Rosewick, maybe you should find out who you are up against before trying to kill people."

With that Roman left the situation in the hands of the officers, he, Neo and the kits strolled out of the park.

As they walked down the street, Roman carrying Sorin and holding Sombra's hand. Sorin sang in the adorable way only a toddler can, a song he made up about how Roman had saved them all from the stupid giant.

Roman smiled ear to ear, most certainly having a good day. Neo followed along behind, carrying Soleil and holding Narzisse's hand, Lila held Neo's coat tails and hummed along with her little brother's song.

Ice cream was a must according to Neo so that was where they went next, Neo's favorite ice cream shop. Neo and Roman held the children up each in turn so they could see the choices and get what they wanted, the devious ice cream queen ordered far more than the children needed though they would have no trouble eating it. Not to mention she ordered them the sundae special which included a brownie with a scattering of almost all the toppings.

Roman paled at the sight when the order was brought to them, looking at the towers of sugar that each kit was about to devour.

"Neo… Was it really necessary to order this much?"

"Yep."

Roman sighed but decided against arguing further.

Sorin started acting a goof before he'd finished half his ice cream and the girls were not far behind. Soleil appeared to be too distracted by the dessert itself to get hyper just yet, seeming to very much enjoy the lychee frozen yogurt he'd gotten.

Once all bowls were empty and the bill was paid Roman swept the kits back out of the shop and towards home, no reason to plague the public with five atomic kittens.

Reaching Roman's mansion the kits charged in the door screaming and terrifying Drei. Roman and Neo just stood in the doorway a moment, watching them charge around the foyer screaming, running up the stairs and chasing the dog.

"Raaagggghhhhh..." Sorin groaned, sticking his arms out and walking like a zombie while Soleil ran from him.

About that time Roman spotted Sombra step up onto the rail of the upper landing.

"I can fly!"

"NOYOUCAN'T!" Roman dropped his cane and ran to catch the kit as she dove off the railing. He jumped, caught her, pulled her tight against his chest and twisted his shoulder to land on his back. Sombra just giggled.

"Uggagh..." Sorin continued stumbling about, chasing his siblings.

Roman grunted as Sombra stood and stomped on him, running off to join her siblings. Neo just stood off to the side laughing maniacally.

With a sigh Roman pulled himself to his feet and followed the monster children as they made for the stairs. Once up there they got harder to follow, though. They all split up and went into different rooms. The girls went into their own rooms and got out toy diamond swords and pick axes to beat each other with while the boys went into every bedroom and stole all the blankets, throwing them over the railing to the first floor below.

Watching the kits play, Roman just stood at the top of the stairs and made sure no one tried jumping off the railing again or ran on the stairs. There was a blur of pink and white that passed him and darted into one of the rooms, followed by a crash. Neo stepped out of the room holding the now empty toy box over her head and giggling.

"Hurry girls! Into the mine cart!" Neo exclaimed running past Roman with the girls and their weaponry in tow. Neo reached the other staircase, let the girls climb into the toy box then hopped in after, causing the box to go sliding down the stairs. Roman then watched as the last blankets in the house went over the rail. The box reached the bottom of the stairs and all four of it's occupants laughed as it continued sliding across the smooth tile floor.

Sorin and Soleil hurried down the stairs past Roman and he was just glad they hadn't tried to jump. Roman headed down the stairs as the girls continued their battle and the boys, now with the help of Neo, started dragging all the blankets into the living room. With a defeated sigh Roman helped drag the blankets and build a massive blanket fort.

Once the fort was finished the kits had tired themselves out, the girls and Neo crawled into the fort together and fell asleep, quickly followed by Sorin.

Soleil looked drowsy too and that worried Roman, normally Soleil didn't need sleep or rather, wasn't supposed to sleep at all. However Blake had explained what to do in this situation so he scooped Soleil up and headed outside, off to the garden to the north side of the yard, there were fewer trees there and only a mazy of shin high flowers. There was also very soft and durable grass which Roman plopped down into. Roman laid on his back in the grass, letting Soleil lay on his chest where the child was fully exposed to the warm afternoon sun.

Soleil stretched his wings slightly and flopped them to the sides. The feathers seemed to glow faintly as the sun beat down on them. Roman watched as the tired little dragon faunus drifted into the light, almost-sleep that he could only achieve in full sunlight like this. Content that the sky was clear and they wouldn't fall into shade any time soon, the exhausted uncle pulled his hat over his eyes and laid his head back in the grass for a nap of his own.


	5. Shadow of Doubt

Yang was on her way home, walking instead of riding her motorcycle which was almost odd except she'd only gone two blocks from home to the corner store for cough syrup. Sorin had caught a minor cold but she was sure this would help him sleep. She smiled to herself as she anticipated the smell of the soup Blake had started just as she'd left. Her mind was still on the warm meal when she heard a sorrowful whimper and she froze, turning her attention back to her surroundings and looking around with a small frown. The whimper came again, drawing Yang's violate gaze to a box in the ally to her left, the cardboard at the top sagging slightly from the moisture in the air and probably the broken rain gutter right above it. She headed over, glancing in to find five golden retriever puppies, she couldn't figure out who in their right mind would leave these tiny little pups out here to just… die. All five pups were dirty, wet and cold but after a moment of inspection she realized two of them weren't moving and were stiff.

With a sad huff she stood, walked a little farther down the alley until she found a box in slightly better shape and carried it over, transferring the three living puppies to it. Once settled safely she stood, bracing the box against her hip, the two dead puppies gained one more sad sigh from Yang before she continued her trek home. She couldn't help but be even more sad over the fact that she'd almost found enough puppies to give each of her children their own… Not that Blake would have liked that idea anyway.

It didn't take her long to get home, pushing the door open and carefully navigating through with the box of cold and whimpering pups. The smell of chicken soup and the sound of rock band controllers clicking along with rock music greeted her and Yang smiled warmly. Once the front door was secure the blond started down the hall, glancing through the doorway on her right to see Soleil and the girls playing the game she'd heard from the door, Sombra was singing, or rather, tripping over the song and mostly trying to match it's pitch, Lila was on bass and Narzisse had the lead guitar and finally Soleil had the drums. Out of the four Soleil was the only one not failing miserably, likely the only reason they hadn't lost the song already. Sorin was bundled in a blanket on the couch, watching and sneezing once in awhile. With a content and warm smile Yang headed into the kitchen where her fine kitty wife was stirring a pot of chicken noodle soup, not from the can either, it was all homemade. There was also something else in the oven, likely a pot pie for Lila since she hated chicken anything and refused to eat it.

"I loooove yoooou." Yang singsonged as she entered the room.

Blake froze, not looking up.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, I found something."

At this point Blake did look over to see Yang presenting the box of puppies, with a hiss Blake jumped back, showering the kitchen floor with a slosh of soup as she'd forgotten the spoon still in her hand.

"Oh come on babe, they're babies taken from their mama doggy and abandoned in an ally, they've already lost two siblings… Can't they just stay till we find them another home at least?"

Blake's shoulders slumped a bit. "Fiiine. But give them a bath and keep up with them, they will destroy everything when you're not looking."

"Of course!"

Yang darted back out of the kitchen, standing in the living room doorway once more and grinning at her daughters who were laying in the floor in defeat and Soleil backed out of the gig they'd just failed.

"Hey guys, you wanna help me with something while Mama finishes supper?"

All heads turned her way and curiosity sparked as the kits noticed the box that seemed to wiggle a bit on it's own. They all got up and headed over, even Sorin though he was a walking, sniffling, blanke-a-reto and the five peered into the box as she lowered it for them to see.

"They look so cold!" Sorin noted.

"They smell funny…" Sombra added.

"You want us to help get them cleaned up and settled right?" Soleil asked, looking up at his mother who nodded.

"Sombra, go get an empty laundry basket, Narzisse, go fetch about half those towels we folded yesterday, the ones with the holes in them, Lila, go find a couple of old bowls mama won't mind us using for some food and water. Boys, follow me."

Orders given the kits spread out like team of chibi huntresses, the boys following their mother to the bathroom where she set the box in the floor, ordering Sorin to make sure they didn't escape the box then setting Soleil up on the counter and handing him a towel. From there she plugged the sink, turned the faucet on for warm water and then grabbed the baby shampoo, setting it beside the sink then reaching down to retrieve a retriever. Yang plunked the pup in the water, drizzled soup down it's back and got to scrubbing, once she'd worked the dirt and other sticky bits out of the pups hair she rinsed it off and handed it over to Soleil who set to drying it off, keeping it close to him to help warm it up. She repeated this process and by the time the girls arrived with the basket filled with towels Soleil had his arms full of floof balls as gold as his own hair.

"Can we keep them?" Sorin asked as Yang took the pups from Soleil one by one to settle in to the basket.

"I don't think so, we'll take them down to the pet shop tomorrow, I'm sure they'll find homes fast."

"But we could take care of them…" He frowned.

"Take it up with your mother." She sighed. "Now, get them somewhere safe and warm then get cleaned up for supper."

The girls nodded, following Soleil who slid the basket out of the room with Sorin tagging along behind and coughing. Yang took the smelly box out to the dumpster to dispose of it, hoping on the way there and back that Blake would agree to keep at least one of the puppies, it would be good for the kits to have that sort of responsibility and besides that Yang missed having a dog. She got back into the house to find Sorin already at the table and Blake giving him some of the cough syrup Yang had picked up.

"No, we aren't keeping the dogs."

"But whyyy?" He pouted after accepting the medicine.

"Because no."

Sorin continued pouting but didn't press his luck, Yang gave the boy a sympathetic look then went to wash her hands and help set the table. The other four filed in as Blake filled bowls with soup and Yang retrieved the potpie from the oven, plopping the little pie on a plate for Lila. The kits ate in relative silence, mostly tired out after a long day and Soleil enjoying the dinner far too much to bother with talking, Sorin continuing to pout.

After dinner Blake was washing dishes when she saw Yang creep past with her scroll tilted sideways in her hands which meant one of two things only, she was either taking pictures or video. Considering she had a habit of filming things when she should be helping the kits out of some sort of mess or embarrassing situation Blake shut off the water and followed to see what was so filmworthy. Around the corner was the basket of puppies and Sorin was curled up with them, all bundled up in the blanket and sleeping. Even Blake had to admit how cute the scene was. With a small smile she quietly went back to what she'd been doing before and once that was done she helped Yang get the rest of the kits settled for bed and made sure Soleil had adequate books to read before heading up to get ready for bed herself. She was just about to get into bed when Yang pulled her into a hug.

"It wouldn't hurt to let them keep just one, I can help make sure they take good care of it and train it and it would be a good experience for them."

"No, I don't like dogs, you know that."

"But they do, think of our children, of Sorin, he just loves them it's so cute!"

Blake sighed. "Why don't we get them something smaller and less… drooling for a first pet?"

"Dogs come in smaller sizes and a lot of those don't drool!"

"You're not going to let up on this are you?"

"Probably not."

"Well, I'll consider it, but just, not right now and not something as big as those mongrels are going to get… Maybe surprise him for his birthday or something."

"You're the best." Yang purred, kissing her wife's shoulder, then her neck and then up to her ear, giving it a slight nibble before letting go and slipping around to her side of the bed and flopping down. She grinned when she saw Blake standing very still, eyes closed and face flushed a bright red.

"Good to know I still got it."

Blake grinned, opening her eyes with a challenging look. "You should just be glad the kits are home or I'd make you pay for that."

"Oh, I don't doubt you could make me scream."

Blake chuckled and climbed into bed, getting settled and pulling up a book but frowned when Yang pulled her laptop over, making sure it was plugged in and the mouse was powered up.

"Minecraft? It's a little late…"

"Naw, something new, and late is the best time for it."

Now curious Blake pulled up the covers and snuggled up against her wife so she could watch over her shoulder. The game was in the horror genre and seemed to take place in a decrepit old pizza place with creepy animatronics and it was titled Five Nights at Freddy's.

Yang started the game up, even though her headphones were on Blake's sharp ears picked up the audio easily and she quickly found herself a bit creeped out right along with daring wife. Yang failed a few times each level or 'night' before she got the hang of it and while the jumpscares startled her she'd giggle softly after and about the time she beat night three she felt Blake slide down a bit as the mama kitty fell asleep.

\-----------------------------------------

Lila woke with a start, panting for air and eyes darting around her room, her panic slowly subsiding as her room didn't match the scene of her nightmare and the pain that had existed in it didn't in the waking world. Still, it left her with a sense of dread. She realized her sisters were still out cold and didn't really want to wake them but doubted she could get back to sleep so the six year old pushed herself up and climbed out of bed, changing clothes somewhat quickly on her own and picking her shoes with the velcro instead of the buckles or laces. That done she wandered out of the room quietly, glancing momentarily at her parent's door but somehow she felt like it wouldn't do any good to tell them about the nightmare… She couldn't even remember it all at this point but it still left her very worried, she didn't want to be alone. Quietly closing the bedroom door behind her she slipped down the hall in near silence, though she stepped on the inevitable creaky floorboard on her way past Soleil's door. She was sure he'd heard but wasn't sure he'd check so she kept going, she wasn't going to give anyone the chance to talk her out of going to see her aunt and uncle. She just felt like she needed to.

However by the time she got to the front door she got the feeling she wasn't alone anymore and turned to glance behind her, spotting none other than Soleil.

"Not sleepwalking are you?"

"No… Bad dream, I wanna go see uncle Roro."

"You know it's really late right?"

"I don't care."

"Alright, I'll go with you, you should wear a jacket." He encouraged as he pulled hers down from it's hook on the wall and held it open to help her put it on.

Relaxing a bit she nodded and let him help her slip the jacket in place then headed out, holding her little brother's hand, they were careful not to let the front door make any noise before heading down the sidewalk and out onto the quiet suburb street. Everything looked different at night but it was all oddly peaceful rather than scary, still a bit chillier than she'd like but with the jacket and sticking close to her brother she was more comfortable than most would have been.

"I'm really glad Mango brought those puppies in, I don't think they'd have survived another night like this, especially as damp as they were." Soleil noted offhandedly, far too wise a statement for a four year old but then again he always seemed very smart, ahead of his age. Lila nodded but didn't really feel like saying much, which turned out to be fine, Soleil didn't mind filling the silence of their trip with quiet stories of the things he'd read and some of his favorite fairy tales, giving her something else to focus on as they made the trek through town.

Finally they reached the mansion on the hill, both of them easily slipping through the iron gate and heading up the driveway then round to the back door. Once in the kitchen the spotted an empty ice cream carton on the counter but the big house was quiet which left Lila a little uneasy again. Soleil seemed to notice because he started moving again before that feeling could really settle in on her, pulling her along and to the foyer then up the stairs, through the doors leading to their aunt and uncle's room.

Ruby was out cold, arm hanging out of the bed and drooling on her pillow, Drei was on the foot of the bed, watching them sleepily but hadn't bothered to bark. Roman however didn't seem to be having a very good dream which left less guilt if they woke him.

Both kits climbed into the bed, snuggling up to their uncle who woke with a start then stared at the two kits in sleepy confusion before hugging both tightly and whispering. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a bad dream." Lila admitted.

"And you came all the way here? Alone?"

She nodded and he sighed, sitting up while still holding them both tightly. "Alright, well, I suppose that's alright but I doubt your parents are going to be very happy…"

His sentence trailed off when he noticed the tears welling in Lila's eyes, the deep fear behind them. Whatever her nightmare had been had frightened her a lot more than she was actually letting on and he hugged her tightly again.

"Let's go down stairs so we don't wake your aunt Ruby."

Both kits quietly nodded their agreement and Roman set them in the floor as he quietly got up, slipping house shoes on and making sure Ruby was still comfortably bundled before grabbing a robe to ward off the light chill and following the kits back down stairs. He was sure to close doors after himself to reduce noise, once downstairs he waved for the kits to follow him to the piano in the foyer, setting on on either side of him on the bench then opening the lid to the piano.

"You know how to play?" Lila asked, slightly surprised as she'd never seen anyone play this piano before and hadn't seen her uncle show more than a passing interest in music.

He nodded. "Seeing this work of art sit here silent was very sad so I decided to take lessons, I usually don't play for anyone but your aunt Ruby."

Both kits smiled as he ruffled their hair then stretched a bit before resting his hands on the keys and starting to play, the music smooth, the melody soothing and Lila found she could easily relax a bit more, feeling safe. She didn't know how good a judge of skill she was but she was sure her uncle was very good especially for someone who only recently started learning to play. After about three songs he stopped, looking from one kit to the other.

"Would you like me to show you how to play?"

"Yeah!" Soleil smiled brightly and Lila nodded enthusiastically.

With a warm smile Roman taught them basics of the notes and how to hold their fingers, how much pressure to apply to the keys and how to reach notes that would seemingly normally be a stretch. Once they had that down somewhat he taught both of them twinkle twinkle little star.

"You are both welcome to come practice any time." He promised, earning him a hug. "How about some Minecraft now? Soli, will you go fire up the PlayStation?"

"Sure." The boy smiled, hopping off the bench and heading for the living room.

Once he was gone Roman turned his attention back to Lila, cupping her little face in his hands and gently turning her face up to meet his concerned gaze. "What happened in that bad dream that frightened you so badly?"

"I…" She frowned, not quite meeting his gaze, at this point she couldn't entirely remember and she felt a little silly for making such a fuss over it, even if what she could remember make her heart hurt. "..Don't want to talk about it.."

"Alright, but if you ever change your mind you remember you can tell me anything." He promised and pulled her into a hug. She nodded and he let her go, standing up and holding his hand out for her to take, which she did and he followed after where Soleil had gone.

He got settled on the couch, again in the middle of the kits and handed Lila her own controller before picking up his, Soleil had already signed them both in and from the looks of it had generated a new map, which had plopped them on the side of a snowy mountain. The world was set to peaceful so there weren't any agressive mobs and Lila mostly just ran around the snowy terrain while leaning on her uncle and Romen noted that eventually there was no activity on her screen as she fell asleep, this time it was void of nightmares. Quietly Roman logged her out so there would be more playable screen for Soleil and with that the two set about building an upside down pyramid.

\-------------------------------------------------

Blake frowned, feeling foggy headed and a little confused, she couldn't remember why she'd come to this place… Had Yang had something to do with it? She wasn't sure. It was somewhat dark and very dingy, the smell of old pizza grease saturated everything and the scent of hydraulics, fake fur and steel were also stagnant in the area. There was a stage, tables, other people, gray and black tile floors and yellowed walls, old balloons hanging with weak helium and tattered streamers that had seen better days.

Suddenly she was filled with a sense of dread, she should have her children with her but she couldn't see any of them, all five were missing and she felt very alone and threatened, as if the kits were in danger. Trying not to panic she headed over to one of the other guests, it was Velvet.

"Have you seen my kits?"

Velvet only gave her an empty stare then went back to her pizza.

With a small annoyed noise Blake ran to the next person she saw, it was professor Ozpin, however he gave her the same reaction, as did Russle and Dove, the only other two people in the dining room. Increasingly agitated and worried she dashed down one of the halls, a sign on the wall pointing down that way read 'security' so she hoped whoever was there would be more help. The door was closed fast though, she peered through the window next to the door and saw a very bored looking Weiss wearing a security guard uniform and poking at a tablet. Blake screamed at her, banging on the glass but felt like she had no voice and went unnoticed, screaming until her face was flushed did nothing and now even more confused and worried she went back down the hall, she was wasting time, she had to find her children. She could almost swear she smelled blood along with the old pizza grease but she wasn't sure, still, it was worrying and she picked up the pace, heading to a different door, only to find it was locked. On the other side she heard sobbing, after a moment she realized it was Soleil and she banged on the door in a panic. "Soleil? Soleil, Mommy's here, it's alright baby, open the door…"

Desperation grew in her voice but there was no change, he cried and the door didn't budge. She heard another sound behind her and jumped, putting her back to the door and scanned the room, quickly wishing she hadn't, the little hairs along her back stood on end as she realized what she was looking at. Everyone in this room, Velvet, Russle, Dove and Ozpin were all staring at her with empty gazes, the creepier part was they were all facing away from her, their heads turned a full one eighty to look directly at her.

It took everything in her not to scream in terror, she locked eyes with the terrifying specters, not backing down, not wanting to leave Soleil….

Soleil had gone silent.

What did that mean? Had he gotten into another room? She could only hope.

From the doorway off to the right of the stage she heard a terrified scream of one her daughters and all else was forgotten as Blake charged forward, dashing towards that sound. She was skidding to a stop moments later though, a huge animatronic chicken blocking her path, it's head shaking and spazzing in unnatural ways, it rose one hand to reach for her, and Blake struggled against the fear that rose within her, the only thing keeping her somewhat rational in the face of this was the thought that one of her daughters was lost in here. Tapping her semblance she left a clone for the thing to grab and rushed past it, darting down the hall and following the now strong scent of blood, panic rising as she realized one of her children was hurt but she refused to accept it could be worse than even that. She dashed into a restroom, just as decrepit as the rest of the restaurant but across from where she stood at the door there was another animatronic, this one lying limp on the floor, the golden bear suit stained with blood that was running out the seams.

"No…" She whispered before continuing forward.

Blake reached the suit, her body felt like it grew heavier with every movement, as if her very muscles were filling with lead like dread. Her hands grasped the fake fur covered metal mask and started pulling it away…

As her eyes settled on what lay beneath it felt as if daggers were driven into her heart, panic and pain flooded her and she couldn't hold back an agonized scream.

Inside the suit was Lila, the metal rods and wires cutting in and through her flesh in a gruesome scene, the kit's face frozen in a pained scream though she was obviously, very dead.

Blake let out an agonized wail as grief flooded her senses against the rest of the pain, tears streaming down her face as her stomach twisted in knots and more panic filled her as she didn't know where the rest of her children where but one was dead. Her entire chest felt like it was on fire and she couldn't breathe through the pain and suddenly something had her, it's arms wrapped about her. She snapped her gaze on it to meet the eyes of the fox animatronic and she screamed again, thrashing at it and struggling to escape but in her pain and panic she couldn't remember how to fight and it started winning, pinning her to the floor, holding her arms down so she couldn't move. Her heart pounded in her ears yet somewhere she heard Yang's voice. It was broken and distorted, coming from the fox but it slowly grew more constant, smooth and real, the image of the fox animatronic fading away and in it's place was Yang, offering comforts and reassurances she couldn't quite process yet. Blake couldn't fully calm down, the events unclear, she was in her bedroom now but she was terrified for her children.

"Have to… Have to…" She panted, gasping for air, trying to plead with Yang to let her go. "My babies…"

"It was a nightmare, everything is fine." Yang said smoothly, soothingly but not letting Blake up yet.

"NO! Lila…" She couldn't hold her voice steady and started sobbing, shaking almost violently. "Their… danger…. find them."

"Mama…?" Sombra's sleepy voice reached Blake's ears as the girl walked round the side of the bed where Yang had her mother pinned to the floor.

"Sombra!" Blake struggled harder and this time Yang did let her up, Blake grabbing Sombra and pulling her into a tight, desperate hug. A moment later Nazisse was hugging her too and Blake finally started to calm somewhat.

"It was just a nightmare, everything is fine, no danger." Yang promised tiredly.

Blake nodded, starting to believe that, remembering she'd never been to a business like that but the game Yang had been playing… That had to be it. Still, something felt off and she glanced at the girls.

"Where is Lila?"

"I don't know…" Narzisse admitted.

"Maybe she went to the kitchen." Sombra suggested and Blake nodded, standing and heading for the door at a determined pace.

She stopped over ever at Soleil's door, knocking first and when there was no answer she pushed the door open to find… The room empty. More worried she headed downstairs, remembering they'd allowed Sorin to remain in the basket with the puppies so maybe the other two had gone down there. They got to the kitchen to find it quiet and empty other than the sickly kit and three puppies, causing Blake to quickly start getting worked up and even Yang was getting a little worried at this point. The two mothers searched the house, including places like the top of the fridge and in the closets but it quickly became clear neither Lila nor Soleil were anywhere to be found, Lila's jacket was missing tipping the two off that they must have left the house, causing Blake to panic harder.

"Where are they?... Oh…. Nonono…."

"They can't have gone far, we'll find them."

Yang got out her phone, calling Neo first, the ice cream crime boss appearing in the video feed, relaxed in her chair and looking somewhere between adorably sleepy and seductive.

"Yo, why you calling me this late blondy?"

"Look, Lila and Soleil left the house at some point while we were asleep and we haven't found them yet so just…. Keep your eyes peeled alright?"

Neo straightened up in her seat, looking Yang in the eyes, suddenly very serious. "I will get my people moving immediately."

"Thank you."

Yang ended the call and called her sister next, the scroll going to voicemail several times before Ruby finally picked up.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat." Ruby groaned at her scroll, drool on one side of her mouth and her eyes not entirely open.

"Lila and Soleil are missing."

"What?!" All at once Ruby was awake and sitting up, staring at her scroll in disbelief.

"Yeah, I already called Neo, let me know if they show up at your place alright? We're gonna search around the neighborhood."

"Alright, let me know if you find them, I'll do the same."

The call ended and Yang pulled Blake to her feet. "We will find them." She then looked to the girls. "Stay put, understood?"

The girls nodded, Sorin was still out cold from the medicine and had no idea what was going on. Neither of the remaining girls were going to argue, opting instead to keep an eye on their brother and puppies.

Yang rushed out of the house with Blake in toe, neither grabbing a jacket and both still dressed in their preferred sleeping attire. The night air was still damp, much more chilly now though. With a shared glance the mothers split up, taking opposite directions, calling out to the missing kits and searching everywhere. The sense of dread driving Blake to near hysteria, though she forced herself to stay focused. She had to find her babies. Yang forced back the fear and all thoughts of anything bad happening to the two, she couldn't bear the implications at the moment if they'd been snatched.

"No… Neo would have heard…" She murmured to herself, trying to ease her mind enough to stay focused.

Little did either of them know at the moment that the two missing kits weren't missing at all.

\--------------------------

Ruby was quick to get dressed, glancing to Roman's side of the bed with momentary confusion before brushing it off as not all that odd. Surely nothing was amiss, he'd have woken her or Drei would have barked. Without much more concern about it she set off to find him, checking the kitchen first, at least that was the plan but the soft sound of a controller clicking and the unmistakable, soothing music of minecraft. Subconsciously crossing her fingers on one hand she headed for the living room, peeking in to see…

Roman slumped slightly awkwardly and asleep, his position clearly to avoid squashing the equally crashed out Lila. Soleil was happily building on her own.

For a moment Ruby considered waking and scolding the lot of them but instead just slipped from the room and called her sister.

"Anything?" Yang asked, half panicked, soaked but too upset to be cold.

"They're here." She said softly.

Yang looked like she might cry, hanging up before she could. With a half sob of relief Yang turned and dashed back down the other way to catch up to blake.

Blake tensed, turning fast when she heard running footsteps and looked unsure if she should relax or not on seeing her wife jogging to catch up.

"They're with Ruby."

"What are they doing there?"

"I donno, let's go ask them ourselves."

Without further deliberation they headed for the Rosewick mansion. Blake was caught between relief and anger, unable to think of any reason to up and leave the house without permission in the middle of the night. Had the panic gotten any worse they could have attracted Grimm, that becoming a danger for the entire city. Luckily they were far from the edges of town where the negativity could have more easily been noticed.

While Blake fumed Yang gave Neo the update, both just being relieved the kits were safe.

Ruby met them in the foyer when they arrived, signalling for them to be quiet before waving them to follow her. Both did though Blake was a mess at this point. Her anger died down considerably when she saw the scene.

Feeling eyes on him Soleil looked up and almost jumped out of his skin seeing the state of his moms along with his sleeping looking aunt beside them, it was a drastic difference. He was quick to hop up and hurry over, all but abandoning the inverted pyramid hanging garden city. The young boy was quick to hug the more upset-looking parent.

"I'm sorry, Lila was really upset and just needed to be here. I made sure she didn't go alone."

Blake sighed and nelt to just hug him tightly. She had much to say about the situation that she'd thought up on the trip over but in that moment it all fell away. She had to assure herself he was safe, the memory of her nightmare, hearing him cry so mournfully in the room she couldn't enter sent a chill up her spine. No relief could follow as the memory of Lila, the gory scene playing back had her stomach in knots and she stood, picking up Soleil in one fluid motion before heading towards the couch. She scooped up the sleeping kit, turned and sat on the couch, hugging both tight while sobbing softly.

Roman woke with a startled, slightly unsettled sound. Blake had half sat against him and he instinctively extracted himself and fell over the back of the couch.

Blake didn't notice.

"Mama?" Lila muttered softly, half asleep and confused.

Yang came up to the back of the couch and craned her neck so she could meet the disheveled and still upside down Roman's gaze. To which he grunted and rolled to his feet.

"Mind explaining?"

Roman just nodded for her to head towards the kitchen before he did the same. Yang and Ruby both headed that way with him, leaving Blake to calm herself down.

"Lila had a nightmare and that prompted them to come all the way here and wake me up." Roman explained once they reached the kitchen and he sat down at the bar.

"Just…. A nightmare?"

"I… think it may have been more than that. Or at least, something really disturbing. I recognized that kind of fear in her eyes when I tried to get her to talk about it. It's the kind of fear that spurs from someone dying right before your eyes and knowing you're next. Don't ask how I know this."

"It's not that hard to guess." Yang said dryly.

"Anyway, I know I should have called but my first priority became calming her down. I never wanted and never again want to see that kind of fear in any of them. I don't know what caused her reaction exactly, but maybe for now we stay on our toes. With any luck it was just a nightmare, but for all we know it could have some link to her symblance."

"But…" Yang started to protest but Roman cut her off.

"Soleil is a dragon. At this point I'm not going to be surprised by anything these kits can do."

With a sigh she nodded and let it go, heading back out to collect her wife and children so they could go home. It was late after all.

When they got home Blake took all the kits, including the still sleeping Sorin and baskit of pups to the bedroom. The basket was set in the floor on her side of the bed and the rest of the kits were to be snuggled between her and Yang. Yang didn't argue but once Blake was asleep again she quietly encouraged Soleil to at least slip away and get a book, not excluding him but not wanting him to fall asleep. He ended up curling back up with the rest of them with a book and book light that he was careful to make sure disturbed no one.

Exhausted, Blake slept hard, curled protectively around her kits but Yang lay awake, watching over all of them and not sure what to make of what Roman had said earlier. She wanted to brush the whole thing aside as kids just being kids with ridiculous ideas but… something did feel off.

Blake seemed torn when she woke, slipping away to cook breakfast and she was tense, eating in silence. Lila watched her quietly, looking like she felt quite guilty but also worried. She was stressing enough she didn't eat much.

After breakfast the rest of the kits were sent off to play with the puppies, Sorin still sniffly but doing a little better.

"What you two did last night was reckless and dangerous. Anything could have happened to you two, you understand me? Never, ever do that to us again. You have no idea how worried we were, for all we knew you were dead!" Blake said, starting to get worked up again but forcing herself to calm down, having to remind herself that her nightmare was likely making this scarier than it really was.

"I'm sorry…" Lila said quietly.

"You were smarter not to go alone, but still. Especially that late, you neet to let an adult know where you want to go. If you had just woken us, at least one of us, it would have been fine." Yang said calmly.

"But… you wouldn't have let me go."

"She was scared of being dismissed." Soleil dared to speak up, firm in his explanation but not in a disrespectful way.

"I get it, I really do, but you have to trust us, okay? For your own safety if nothing else." Blake said, having calmed considerably.

Both nodded and apologized again.

Seeming satisfied with that Blake issued mild groundings to both for the next week, no leaving the house and no video games. Neither child argued, even when they stayed behind with Blake and Sorin while Yang took the remaining girls with to find the puppies homes. Sorin was sick enough to stay home, well enough to be upset at being left behind and as the only ungrounded kit left behind, begged almost relentlessly for a puppy.

"No."

"Seriously, no."

"Not happening, stop asking."

"Every time you ask I add a year before you get a pet."

Were Blake's responses, the last one finally getting her some peace and quiet while the kit went to pout. In all honesty though, seeing how badly he wanted a puppy, she was considering it again… a small one.

Just a small dog.

Maybe…


	6. Ice Cold

It had been quite a long time since team RWBY had been together, but it seemed, by tomorrow they would be reunited.  
Ruby and Yang chatted while braiding Sombra’s blond and black hair. Roman was asleep, a book over his face with Narzisse draped over his middle and snoring loudly, Roman’s bowler hat sitting ascue on the little blond faunus’s head.  
Blake sat with Lila and Soleil, playing a children's card game with the four and six year olds. Her remaining son, Sorin was fast asleep in her lap.  
Even by airship a trip to Atlus was not a quick one and so the last few days had gone much like this.  
Sombra moved up to the bench between her mother and aunt, whispering that the floor was turning into lava.  
Ruby just chuckled and hugged the girl.  
About that time Narzisse sneezed and sent Roman’s hat tumbling to the floor.  
“OH NO!” Sambra shouted. “THE FLOOR IS LAVA, UNCLE RORO’S HAT IS GONNA BURN!”  
That brought Narzisse fully awake and she scrambled to grab the beloved hat from its ‘fiery fate’ but only managed to fall to the floor for her efforts.  
“I’m gonna die!” She cried from the floor, flailing helplessly in the pretend lava.  
“I’ll save you! Lava doesn’t hurt dragons!” Soleil proclaimed then rushed over to his sister’s aid, a silly grin filling his face and his little wings bouncing excitedly.  
The younger boy grabbed his sister and pulled her towards the bench where the now very awake Roman pulled her back up. He then tossed Roman’s hat back up with them and ran back to his spot to retrieve his cards.  
“I’m on fire!” Narzisse cried.  
“Oh no! Put out the fire!” Roman played along, patting her shoulders and head to put out the make believe fire. “There! All safe now.”  
Narzisse squealed happily and Roman threw his arms wide for a hug which she did not hesitate to grant.  
Blake smiled over at them, it had taken her a long time to see Roman’s good side but she was glad she had, she could not picture a better uncle for her children. Besides, she of all people should know that those with dark pasts were not necessarily bad.  
It was some time later she realized she had dozed off, she woke to the scene of all five of her children standing shoulder to shoulder with toy weapons in their hands, Roman down on all fours and roaring at them like a vicious Grimm.  
Narzisse stood as lead, her sisters flanking her and her brothers flanking them. The boys where small for their age, with Soleil it made sense, being winged but not so much for Sorin, which worried her. She also noted that Sorin had once again abandoned his shirt, the patches of baby fur on his chest and back revealed.  
Roman roared again and charged, causing the kids to scatter. He pinned down Lila and started tickling her. The other four rushed in, bopping him with the little toy weapons. Narzisse ran around in front of him and hit him in the chest. Roman let out a howl, grabbing the weapon and falling over.  
“Alas, I am defeated.” He gave a dramatic show of ‘dying’ then remained still, holding the toy weapon in place.  
The kits all ran over to strike a victorious pose while Yang took a photo with her scroll. After that Narzisse ran over to Ruby to retrieve Roman’s hat and put it on.  
Lila and the boys ran over to Blake to tell her all about the dearing battle.  
Sombra pulled on Roman’s coat. “Get up!”  
“Dead monsters don’t get up.” He mumbled up to her.  
“You’re not dead, not really!” She laughed, tugging harder. “You’re just playing!”  
Roman chuckled and sat up, pulling the girl into a hug.  
\------------------------------  
The next day they arrived in Atlus, met by a chauffeur with a limo they were taken to the Schnee estate. The kids were quite amazed by the long car.  
The gates of the estate stood tall as the vehicle pulled through, stopping in front of the mansion. It was easily as big if not bigger than Roman’s own.  
Weiss was waiting for them at the door, a warm, genuine smile on her face. Once everyone was in the foryar and hugs had been traded Yang introduced the children to Weiss. The children were instantly entranced by Weiss with her white hair and crystal blue eyes. They followed her like baby ducks as she showed everyone around.  
Finally they settled into one of the sitting rooms with much to catch up on.  
Though, this quickly led to very bored bumblekits.  
“Can we play in the snow?” Sombra begged, she’d never seen so much in her life and she was dying to go play.  
Blake nodded. “Watch after your brothers.”  
Soon the bumblekits were bundled and out in the snow, building snowmen and throwing snowballs. The courtyard was huge, with frozen fountains and statues, winter blooming flowers and evergreen trees.  
It was by a group of these trees that Sorin soon noticed a small girl, easily the age of his sisters. She wore a long white coat adorned with blue snowflakes, like Weiss she had long white hair but her eyes were closed as she sobbed softly into her mits.  
He frowned and ran over to her, not sure why she was upset. When he got close she turned and ran into the trees, vanishing behind a tall snowdrift near the wall. Sorin followed, ignoring his siblings calling for him. Around the snowdrift and a tree was a small hole in the wall near the ground, just big enough for the girl to have crawled through so again he followed. This time his siblings were close on his tail and followed him under the wall.  
Now they all saw the girl, standing at the edge of the forest, covering her eyes just a few yards away.  
“No one plays with me.” She sobbed.  
“We will play with you!” Sorin called.  
The girl pulled the mits from her face and smiled, though she still didn’t open her eyes. “Really?”  
“Yeah!”  
“Sorin… I’m not so sure of this… Who is she?” Narzisse asked.  
“Someone who needs a friend.”  
“I have a bad feeling…” Soleil whispered quietly.  
“I’m it! Come and catch me!” The girl called and ran into the woods.  
Giggling Sorin followed, quickly followed by his siblings who soon started giggling too. They didn’t mind the cold bite of the wind, not realizing the danger as the strange girl led them deeper and deeper into the woods.  
\-----------------------------  
Blake glanced up and realized the time. “We should get the kids inside, it’s been too long already…”  
Weiss nodded and walked with Blake to the door that opened up onto the patio and the courtyard beyond it…  
Was deserted, no children, only silent tracks quickly being filled by falling snow.  
“Weiss… Where are my children…” Blake said, far too calm as she was on the edge of panic.  
“M-maybe the servants brought them in already…” Weiss offered, already panicking at the sinking feeling of something very wrong in her gut.  
“There is only one set of tracks… leading away from the patio…” Blake pointed out, her worry deepening.  
Without another word Weiss grabbed her coat and rushed out the door, following the tracks in the snow round and round until they led to the wall, Blake and the others now bundled against the cold joined her at the hole in the wall where the tracks led.  
“Bloody hell…” Weiss grumbled under her breath.  
“It’s unlike them to just run off!” Yang wailed.  
“We’ll find them.” Roman assured before grabbing a tree branch and hauling himself up the grab the lip of the eight foot wall then vaulted over.  
The others quickly followed his lead as Roman followed the even faster dissipating tracks into the forest.  
The Blizzard grew more intense as they searched, soon hiding the five sets of footprints.  
\------------------------  
The girl darted into the ruins of an old, big house that looked like it had been abandoned years ago, long forgotten to the world.  
“Do you live here?” Sorin asked.  
“It’s lonely.” The girl replied, her voice coming from everywhere.  
All the bumblekits saw her in a different place, causing them to split up without realizing.  
As the other four got lost in the house Sorin followed the girl out the back door. She led him through the long overgrown garden that was blanketed in snow.  
“Where is your family?” Sorin asked.  
“Gone…”  
“They left you here?”  
“Yes, but that is alright, because I have you now.” She giggled, stopping suddenly, allowing Sorin to get close, the next step the snow was deeper, like there was a stair or something and his next was accompanied by a cracking sound.  
The girl turned to face him, finally opening her eyes revealing two glowing blue orbs that were far from natural. “You’re going to stay with me forever and ever.”  
Now the fear and wrongness set into the young boy and he screamed in terror as the hidden ice under him gave way, plummeting him into the frozen and long forgotten pound.  
His scream alerted the others and they ran out after him, all seeing the girl with her glowing blue eyes holding something, someone beneath the surface of the water.  
“Sorin!” Soleil cried, diving into the water and grabbing his brother, somehow pushing the ghost away and allowing his brother up for air.  
The girls rushed over and tried to pull the boys out but it was like something was holding them in the water.  
“On three!” Narzisse demanded and on that mark they pulled as hard as they could all together.  
Their efforts worked against them though as suddenly they were all pulled into the dark, cold water, watching in horror as Ice started to form again.  
Sombra got her head above water one more time, screaming her loudest before being shoved under by the ghost girl once again and the ice sealed.  
\----------------------------------  
Roman had been running blind through the blizzard for what felt like forever when suddenly he heard a creepy giggle and the storm died. An instant later he heard Sorin scream in terror.  
Roman turned and ran that way, as fast as he could, he could just barely hear shouts then another, ear-splitting scream from Sombra.  
Then. Silence.  
Roman did not give up, he charged in the direction of the screams, calling out for the lost children. He came upon a ruined house and garden but he was sure the screams had not come from the house, it was too far to his right.  
He scanned the snowy clearing for any sign of the kits and that is when he noticed a hole in the ground and he rushed for it, once closer he could see it was a frozen over pond, and under the surface was a small hand slapping futilely at the ice.  
Roman charged and jumped, shattering the ice with his own body then grabbing kits from the drink and tossing them out in the snow, once he had all five he gathered them up and started running back the way he’d come. The girls were coughing and sobbing in his arms.  
“Sorin!” Soleil coughed. “Sorin, breathe…”  
It was then Roman realized the boy was far too limp in his arms. He stopped, setting the kids down and laying Sorin flat on his back. The kits huddled together in fear as much as out of cold as Roman gave the smallest child cpr.  
“Common Sorin… You are stronger than this!” Roman said between breaths.  
There was no response.  
Tears started to roll down Roman’s face, freezing before they could fall and still he refused to give up. Just as all hope seemed lost Sorin coughed, spitting water everywhere.  
Roman let out a relieved sigh, hugging the boy before scooping the others up again and resuming his run. They were all shivering hard, pale with blue lips, Roman included, his lungs burned and his legs ached from the cold but he kept running.  
“I FOUND THEM!” He cried when he heard the others nearby but did not stop, knowing he had to get the children inside.  
They fell into step behind him in the mad dash for the mansion. Once through the door they were met by servants already prepared. Before Roman could argue the children were pulled from his arms and their clothes pulled off, replaced by warm blankets. Someone was pulling at his clothes too, Ruby he realized. He was far too exhausted and worried to argue, letting her do what was needed to keep him alive. His eyes never left the children, his nieces and nephews as the servants, along with Blake and Yang tried to warm the children up.  
Soleil already looked like he’d be fine, not surprising with his naturally high body temperature.  
The girls were all still shivering but their color was returning.  
Sorin however, the smallest of the five, did not look well. His eyes rolled back in his head and he was near limp in Blake’s hands. His color was not returning and his breaths were shallow. Slow and far apart.  
Blake was trying desperately to get the boy warm again, to get a response. “Stay with Mommy, Sorin, I’m here, look at me baby.”  
Sorin let out one more ragged, shallow breath then did not draw in another.  
“Sorin!” Blake’s distress was clear, drawing all eyes to her and the motionless child in her arms.  
“Sorin!” Soleil cried.  
“No…” Roman whispered.  
“That’s not funny!” Sombra cried, rushing over to grab her brothers hand.  
“He’s gone.” Someone said but Roman was not sure who.  
“No! He’s just playing! he’s not dead, not really!” Tears rolled openly down the little girls face. “He’s just playing!”  
Blake was trembling with sobs as she held the motionless boy tight. Yang had her mouth covered with her hand, tears rolling down her face as she sank to the floor.  
“SORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN” Soleil wailed with all his voice could manage then fell into silent sobs.  
Blake and Yang followed with wails of their own.  
Roman sat still and cold, tears rolling down his face, he’d failed.  
He barely noticed Ruby crying into his shoulder. Only one thought playing through his mind.  
He’d failed.  
\-----------------------------  
“This is all my fault…” Weiss stated sadly hours later. “If I hadn’t invited you..”  
“You couldn’t have known… None of us could.” Ruby offered, having dealt with grief most her life. She’d finally gotten Yang to go to sleep, her, Blake and the remaining children all bundled together in one bed.  
Ruby, Weiss and Roman sat together in Weiss’s kitchen, steaming cups of coffee in hand, though Roman seemed not to notice anything around him, just staring into the depths of the dark liquid in his cup but not seeing it.  
“I should have known! I shouldn’t have let them play in the yard alone…” Weiss argued.  
“What do you mean?” Ruby shook her head. “There was no way you could have known.”  
“BUT I SHOULD HAVE!” Weiss snapped, slamming her fists on the table. “I should have… Because I should have remembered the girl in white.”  
“Girl in white?” Ruby asked in confusion.  
“They all saw her, she led them out of the yard… Because she wanted someone to play with. Forever.”  
“You're saying.” Roman spoke for the first time in hours, his voice saturated with dark misery. “That a ghost took my nephew?”  
Weiss nodded. “I know, because she tried to kill me too… Lead me away, but when I told my parents they didn’t believe me so… eventually, neither did I. I guessed what I saw was all just a dream. But now, now after what has happened, considering what I’ve been told about what’s in those woods and that girl…”  
“What?” Ruby pressed.  
“That mansion was built by my great grandparents’ grandparents. The reason it was left to rot is because… Rumor goes the daughter was set to inherit the company, like I was, but her brother was jealous, so he drowned her in the pond behind the house.” Weiss sighed. “I never connected the dots because I convinced myself she wasn’t real. This is my fault.”  
“No.” Roman said, standing. “The fact remains that I could not get him back in time. I couldn’t run fast enough to save him. They’ve never seen snow like this, it could have happened, ghost or no ghost.”  
With that he left for his and Ruby’s assigned room.  
Ruby sighed down into her now empty coffee mug and set it down. “Don’t blame yourself Weiss. This was impossible to predict, blaming ourselves will not bring him back.”  
“I… I will pay for everything… for his burial.” Weiss offered, staring glumly down at the table.  
Ruby only nodded before following Roman.  
Weiss sat alone for a long time but when she did get up and head for the bedrooms she found Soleil sitting in the floor, staring at the wall.  
“Can’t sleep?” She asked gently, still feeling to blame for his twin’s death.  
He only looked at her silently.  
“Okay…” She said, a little weirded out but she stepped into her study and grabbed a paper and pencil. “Here.”  
He took it from her and to her surprise did not start drawing but writing. She read over his shoulder.  
I can never sleep.  
Weiss swallowed hard. “Because of your brother? Or the girl?”  
He just turned back to the wall, staring silently.  
Thoroughly disturbed Weiss slipped past the boy and headed to her room, locking the door behind her.  
\--------------------------------------  
The next day arrangements were made for Sorin’s funeral and everyone’s return to Vale.  
The trip back was silent and somber. The pain everyone shared ringing clear in the silence. At least one of the children would be crying, quietly, sad sobs of someone who just can’t stop crying.  
It tore Roman’s heart to see them this way, he wondered if Soleil would ever even speak again, he had become so quiet.  
He guessed only time would provide that answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... this escalated didn't it? I've been waiting so long to post this chapter. Again I wanted more stuff between chapter three and this chapter but that just wasn't happening, sorry. As I've said before, I don't bite, so feel free to comment!  
> ...  
> I'm going to get yelled at aren't I?


	7. Unlit Candles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the minimal editing and a few possible misspellings. I hope you enjoy nonetheless.

Wind played with the smoke that rose from the burning end of a cigar, the end of which glowed as bright an orange red as the hair of the man smoking it. Gray clouds over head seemed fitting to the place he approached yet he wished it was not so gloomy. This storm with it’s thick clouds had hung over Vale for days now.   
Roman released the smoke from his last drag on the cigar as he walked through the damp grass, walking a familiar path between statues and stone slabs. The only sound that greeted him here was the wind dancing through the trees, then the creak of the old iron gate as he stepped into a place reserved for Torchwicks.

He paused, dropping his cigar and snuffing it out with his cane, he’d promised after all, never to smoke around them.  
Stepping through the old iron gate Roman paused momentarily to glance at the graves of his parents and then with a sigh stepped farther in. He paused again at his sister’s grave then took only a couple steps, stopping at a grave that should have remained empty, however, when the unexpected had happened he’d given this place to someone he’d loved as his own child.  
The headstone read. “Sorin Xiao Long.” Followed by dates that placed the boy at only the age of four at his time of death. Below that it read. “Brother, Son, Nephew. Forever warm in our hearts and never forgotten.”  
There was already a spread of flowers and a few toys, his parents having already been here.  
Roman fell to his knees, then sat on his heels, head bowed, hat hiding his eyes, it could not hide the silent tears that slid down his face. He still felt like he’d failed the boy, he still couldn’t forgive himself. Not six months later at least, but likely not ever.  
After a few moments he regained his composure, though a few tears still slipped down his face. He reached into his coat and produced a small box, opening it up he took out the tiny charm bracelet and held it out over the grave.

“Look what I’ve brought you, Sorin, for your birthday. You’d have been five..” Roman’s voice cracked and his hand clenched into a fist around the little trinket as a fresh wave of despair rolled through him. He pulled his hand back and opened his fist, looking down at the little bracelet, it only had four charms. A very blocky wolf, because wolves always seemed warm in the cold places. A block of soul sand, because purple. An enderman because of it’s purple eyes and lastly a magma cube, because they were warm too.  
These had been some Sorin’s favorite things in the game Minecraft.  
Roman’s tears dripped onto his gloved hand around the gift. With a ragged sigh the saddened uncle placed the gift back in it’s box, then dug a small hole to place the box deep under the sod, that way it would be safe from the groundskeepers.

“I hope you like it, I’ll bring you a new charm each year…” Roman’s voice cracked every other word and once the dirt was packed back into place he folded his arms and leaned forward. His head rested against the damp grass and his hat slipped off and rolled away as the seemingly broken uncle mourned the passing of a child that should have outlived him.  
“I’m sorry…. I’m so sorry…. I couldn’t save you.”

\-----------------------------------------------

Soleil sat on the cold tiles of the kitchen floor, leaning against the cabinet. He felt cooler than normal, and tired. It had been days since he’d seen the sun, the clouds hanging thick over the city keeping him from getting any light. Sometimes it rained, sometimes not, either way he didn’t like it.  
Yang was standing at that same counter, following the directions in a recipe book, then she paused.

“Do you want a chocolate cake or a vanilla one?” She asked, glancing down, then bit her lip, realizing the implications in her question as she watched her son’s face.

Silent tears started trailing down Soleil’s cheeks, his bottom lip quivering.  
When he and his twin had been asked that last year they had replied in unison. “Both!”  
Yang knelt beside her silent son and pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m sorry honey. Mommy wasn’t thinking. Oh, baby please forgive me.”  
She sat down and pulled him into her lap, rocking him and still holding him tight.

“How about something else, an orange cake maybe?” She felt him nod against her shoulder. She pulled him out to arms length to kiss his forehead after which she looked him in the face, going to ask him if he was okay but, gazing into those little red orbs wet with tears she knew he was not. He didn’t want a cake, he didn’t want to celebrate his birthday, he only wanted his brother back.   
That was the one thing she could never give him. She pulled him close and hugged him tight again, she understood. Years ago her own little sister had faked her death and Yang had believed her dead. Unlike Ruby though, Sorin wasn’t faking.  
He wasn’t coming back.

The fiery blond mother found herself feeling guilty then, that she had gotten her sister back, but Soleil would never have his brother back. Still, two years of believing Ruby dead was enough for Yang to understand what her little dragon was going through and she hated every minute of it.  
She heard footsteps and soft sobbing and glanced up to see Blake, tears rolling down her face non stop and she was shivering slightly. She crumpled to the floor next to her wife and son, hugging them both as she sobbed, she was cold to the touch which worried Yang. 

The other three kits came to see what was the matter, seeing their mothers and brother crying they piled on top of the three, unable to stop their own tears. They knew what was wrong. The six cried together over the loss of the seventh member of their family once again. One of Blake’s cat ears twitched slightly, she knew Soleil was mute now and yet she could swear she was hearing a male voice crying too, but more faint. Almost not there at all. For the sake of her sanity she decided it was Soleil though she knew he was silent.  
Yang was the first to get control of herself. “Come on guys, he wouldn’t want us to be sad. Ruby and Roman will be here soon too.”

“Yeah, everything’s gonna be okay!” Lila said, trying to sound bright as she wiped away her tears but they just kept falling anyway.

Narzisse was the next to stand and she took her sister’s hand, trying her hardest to smile through her pain, tears streaming down her face past her big smile.  
Blake was slowly warming up and again Yang wondered how she’d gotten so cold.  
After a minute Sombra stood up too, huddling with her sisters as they tried to cheer each other up. Yang stood, still holding Soleil and pulled Blake back to her feet too, most of their tears subsiding for the moment. Soleil wasn’t crying anymore anyway.  
Yang set the boy on the counter next to the mixing bowl and decided to distract him by having him help. Blake started ushering the girls back out of the kitchen but paused and glanced around, Yang watched as Blake’s ears flicked, her tear stained face looking a bit spooked. She glanced at Soleil then back at the floor near the table, her ears flattening to her head before she stepped out of the kitchen.  
Yang decided she would ask her about it later.

By the time they had gotten the cake in the oven and made sandwiches and cut them into bite sized pieces Ruby showed up, placing a present on the table with the others.

“You’re early.” Yang grinned.

“Yep!” Ruby replied cheerfully, the smile on her face faded for a moment though as she passed the spot Blake had glanced at earlier, Ruby shivered a bit and glanced back at that spot before shrugging and coming around the cabinet to hug Yang and then Soleil.

Yang turned her attention to checking the cake while Ruby ruffled Soleil’s hair. “How’s the birthday boy eh?”

He frowned up at her then looked away and sighed.

“That bad eh?”

He nodded slightly.

“Are you feeling alright?”

He pointed out the window.

“Oh, yeah, I can see that not helping.”

“Where’s that crooked husband of yours?”

“He’s not and he….” Ruby paused, biting her lip, remembering the look on Roman’s face before he’d left earlier.  
Of the smile he wore to hide his pain.

“I’m going to take Sorin his present first.” He’d said, trying to hide the pain in his voice.  
Tears rolled down Ruby’s face. “He’ll be along shortly.”

“Alright then.” Yang said, taking the cake from the oven and setting it on a cooling rack.

Soleil looked away, tired of everyone crying around him. His eyes fell to that same spot by the table. A chill ran down his spine and he suddenly felt sad again, he quickly looked away, out the back door, over to the cake, anything. The sadness faded when he looked away which relieved him.   
His aunt and mother continued chatting while decorating the cake but he didn’t pay much attention, just staring out the sliding glass back door. It was raining again. He wished the sun would come out, all this time without it made him feel tired.

\-----------------------------------------------

A drizzle started, drawing Roman from his sad thoughts. He sat up, glancing at the grave in front of him he noticed new flowers, these had not been there moments before. He also noticed his hat was missing as rain pattered down around him at an increasing speed, he could also hear the rain bouncing off of something next to him. Glancing over and up he found Neo, she was wearing his hat and the sound he heard was the rain off of her umbrella. Other than that she had been completely silent. He was a little surprised to see her, he’d not seen her in months. She’d left town for some reason before the trip to Atlus that had ended Sorin’s life.  
This was likely her first time visiting his grave.  
Roman was sure his assumption was true when she glanced away from the headstone to look at him, her eyes rimmed with tears, one eye white and the other brown. She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Isn’t there a living Kit with a birthday you should be spending time with?” She asked.

Roman nodded and stood, retrieving his hat from her head then starting away without a word. He paused however, at his sister's grave and whispered something that Neo couldn’t quite make all of out, however she did catch “look out for him” so she guessed at what he was requesting of his late older sister.  
With that he left and Neo was alone. She didn’t seem to mind, shifting her umbrella as the wind shifted the rain into her face.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner…. I was taking care of matters in all four kingdoms… Weiss told me what happened.” She paused a moment to let out a sigh. “I’m sorry kiddo…. I could protect you from the crime world but I’m powerless against ghosts.”  
Neo brought her sleeve up to her eyes again and realized she couldn’t stop crying. She’d never cried here before, not over her parents or anyone else. She’d thought herself cold for it but now realized that she simply had to actually care.

\-----------------------------------------------

The cake was looking close to finished and Soleil was trying to cheer up when he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see who had entered the kitchen. His little red eyes met with the green one of his ginger haired uncle who’d obviously been caught in the rain. A faint smile tugged at Soleil’s lips looking at the soaked man. Roman returned that smile and walked over to hug the boy. Soleil hugged Roman tightly, at least as tight as he could for as tired as he was. The slight listlessness had the former criminal looking at his nephew with concern in his eyes.

“You okay?”

Soleil sighed, tired of that question already then pointed at the sliding glass doors. Roman gave the clouds a disapproving look and huffed before setting the boy down.

“Can’t have that now, can we?” He marched over to the broom cupboard, retrieved a broom and headed out onto the back porch, once there he turned the broom bristles up and started swinging at the sky, angrily yelling. “Get lost! You’ve had you’re effect for days now, so shoo! Off, out of here, scoot, skidaddle, scram! We want a sunny damn day you good for nothing, depressing, gloomy, ugly clouds!”

At this point Yang and Ruby had paused both conversation and cake decorating to stare at the man as if he’d lost his mind. Soleil however started silently laughing, his shoulders shook and he was glad he wasn’t standing as he’d have probably fallen over. Seeing the boy cheer both sisters caught on and relaxed, Ruby silently appreciating Roman’s strength, the ability to find humor for others when your heart hurts takes a special kind of willpower.

With an annoyed, over exaggerated huff, Roman lowered his hands to rest on his hips, broom still in one hand as he looked up at the drizzly clouds. He came back in, setting the broom back in its place before turning to Soliel. “Well, I gave it my best shot but they’re unreasonable. Don’t worry though, they don’t leave soon I’ll tell Neo and she’ll have her goons run them out of town.”

Soliel smiled and nodded, amused for the moment at least; still tired but not thinking too much on it. For now he just wanted to focus on the people around him, to appreciate them.

\-----------------------------------------------

Everything was strange for the shivering little kit, the world lost nearly all of it’s color aside from the hue of blue. He wasn’t in pain but he was cold, so cold and he hated being cold. He was lonely too. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been lost, the last thing he’d remembered was following that girl who wanted to play but then he’d been in a big hallway. It looked like the one in his home but far, far longer. He felt like had wandered through that hall for weeks, he never got hungry, never got tired but he was cold and afraid. Finally when he found an open door he’d gone through without a second thought, anything to get out of that strange hall.  
He’d been surprised to see…. The same hall, but the real one this time. His home, but all the color washed away in hues of blue. He was cold and miserable. He just wanted to be warm, to not be alone. With a sniffle he shuffled towards his parent’s bedroom door and pushed it open, it creaked slightly and he saw his kitty mother glance up at the door and then her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Mammy…” He sniffled, but she didn’t seem to see him. She was sitting in her reading chair holding a book so he just clambered up to cuddle. He was cold and sad and scared. She didn’t seem to know he was there but started shivering too. There was warmth from her but he couldn’t seem to warm up and she didn’t say anything.

His mother seemed panicked and suddenly she was scrambling to get out of the chair, leaving him behind. The book she’d been reading fell to the floor and she bolted for the door but slowed down in the hall, crying. He was hurt and confused so he wanted to find his other mother, suddenly he was in the kitchen and he dropped next to the table, just crying and sobbing. Soleil was in there with her and neither of them noticed him. He cried out for them and neither heard or maybe they were ignoring him. He didn’t understand. He felt even more alone, hurt and abandoned, cold and afraid. He cried, sobbed and begged for them to forgive him, he didn’t even know what he’d done wrong but it hurt and he hated it.

\-----------------------------------------------

Seeing as to how everyone had been reacting weirdly to the table Yang opted to carry the cake into the living room after lunch, setting it on the coffee table instead. Soleil sat beside Roman while his moms lit the candles, they always did this little thing together, it was sweet, he thought. With the candles lit everyone sang happy birthday, he fought really hard not to feel sad, instead focusing on his moms’ and his uncle’s superb voices.  
It took him a long moment of consideration when they told him to blow out the candles. He searched his mind for a wish, he tried hard to think of something but… all in the world he wanted was his brother and tears welled in his eyes. He knew that wasn’t possible, he knew Sorin was gone forever. His heart ached as he bit his lip, thinking hard, grasping for anything else at all but there was nothing that came to his mind, not even the sunlight he so desperately needed. His mind was clouded just like the sky and all he could think of was his lost brother, cold and motionless. In that moment, he could swear he heard his brother crying, but it was so faint… It could have easily been the wind, it could have been anything but it wasn’t his brother, that was impossible. He felt those tears escaping his eyes, rolling down his cheeks as he watched the wax do much the same rolling down the side of the candles. Everyone had gone quiet, he was sure it was all sad expressions watching him. This heartache was shared by them all. 

Before he could give up, before he could crumple and start sobbing again, he felt a hand on his back. Soleil looked up at him, meeting the gaze of his uncle, seeing the shared pain there… The same pain his sisters had, the same pain one of his mothers shared. The pain of losing a sibling, he understood it too…  
Finally he looked back to the candles, wiping his eyes he drew in a breath to make his wish.

_‘Let Sorin find peace.’_

He blew and the candles all went out. He didn’t open his eyes for a long time, sniffling and trying not to cry too hard. No one asked what his wish had been, he just got wrapped in many hugs.

\-----------------------------------------------

Sorin had wandered into the living room once he’d realized everyone was in there. He saw the cake, even it’s flames were blue, and he started crying all the harder, shivering hard. He felt betrayed… they were celebrating his and Soleil’s birthday without him… he was left out. He couldn’t wrap his little child mind around why they would do such a thing, why they would ignore him, why they cried so much, ran from him, stayed away from him. He was miserable and on the verge of getting bitter. It hurt and he didn’t understand, he felt so alone.

“Hey there, no need to cry, you aren’t alone.” Said a warm sounding but unfamiliar female voice.  
Startled Sorin looked to see who it was, surprised someone had finally noticed him. Unlike his family, unlike the house around him, this girl had color to her. She looked like a teenager, she had ginger hair like his uncle but much much longer. She had blue eyes too, but there was a very clear resemblance between her and his uncle. That familiarity almost put him at ease but he didn’t know who she was.

“It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you. As a matter of fact, your uncle, my little brother, asked me to look out for you.” She said with a bright smile. “My name is Carmine, Carmine Torchwick, what’s yours?”

“Sorin…” He sniffled. “Why is everyone ignoring me.”

“Oh Sorin, they aren’t ignoring you, they can’t see you, they can’t see me either.”

“I don’t understand.” He said choking out another sob.

“We’re dead.” She said as gently as she could.

“I… I don’t believe you!” He cried and ran away from her.

With a sigh Carmine stood, shaking her head before looking over at the group of living people. They’d gotten the remaining boy to calm down and were slicing cake now. She took a step that way, crouching to look at her brother who was sat in the floor with everyone else. She smiled softly.

“I’m so proud of you Roman.”

\-----------------------------------------------

Roman was about to hand Lila her slice of cake after he’d, at Soleil’s silent request, helped the boy slice it up, when he jumped slightly and glanced sharply to his side, looking around over Soleil’s head.

“Are you okay uncle Roro?” She asked, still reaching.

“Yeah… just thought I heard something.” He said, handing it to her as he looked back.

He let the oddity of it slide, not sure what it was or if he’d really even heard anything, there had just… felt like someone had said something but there was nothing. He had more important things to think about though, passing the next piece of cake as the adults in the room got their own. He looked down at Soleil beside him, eating silently, he looked exhausted and that worried him tremendously. Soleil couldn’t sleep, he needed the sun but there wasn’t actually much Roman could do to end the storm. He was at a loss there and a cold fear crept into the pit of his stomach. If he didn’t figure out something then they’d lose him too, he realized.

That couldn’t happen, he wouldn’t let that happen. He wasn’t going to watch another of his precious nephews die. He wasn’t going to let any of the kits die, he wouldn’t stand for it. He wouldn’t live through another funeral.  
For the moment he kept an eye on Soleil as he plotted what to do, tried to think of anything aside from waiting out the storm cause at this point it didn’t seem like that was going to be an option.

\--------------------------------------------------

“Here you are.” Carmine said, kneeling beside the crying kit, hiding under the kitchen table once more.

“No! Leave me alone!” He protested.

“But then you’ll be all alone, so will I. You don’t want that do you? I don’t want you to have to be lonely.”

“I don’t know you! You’re a stranger!”

“Well… let’s fix that then.” She said, moving to sit beside him and whether he listened or not, she started telling him about herself, about her life, her childhood and little Roman. That caught his attention and he finally looked up at her, listening as she talked about his uncle when he was little.

\--------------------------------------------------

Soleil was struggling to stay awake, he was just so tired, all he wanted was to curl up and pass out. He kept fighting that though, fighting to keep his eyes open, to keep moving. He tore open presents without really seeing or appreciating them. There was a charm bracelet and he put that on but otherwise he didn’t think much of any of it, too busy fighting to keep his eyes open.

Yang, Blake and Ruby were quite concerned, the boy’s parents seeming to feel a bit helpless, the sisters were also worried, watching their brother struggle to keep his eyes open. Finally, Roman had enough, he had a plan. He scooped Soleil up without a word and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Blake demanded.

“To get this child some sun.” Roman said firmly and out they went.

Soleil was struggling to focus to stay awake as he was placed in the car and flinched when his uncle pinched him, looking to Roman slightly startled.

“Sorry, but you have to stay awake.” He said insistently, to which Soleil nodded, he understood. Roman kept talking to and shaking or poking at the boy as he drove, not wanting Soleil to fall asleep, not willing to let him die too. So out of it was the little dragon faunus that he didn’t notice Roman making a call, asking someone to meet them somewhere, it went right over the child’s head.

Finally they got to the place Roman had been driving and Soleil was shaken again from near dozing off as Roman pulled him from the car, all but running across an air hanger. Soleil caught sight of a couple of vehicles before they climbed into one and it started moving.

“Just hold on, it’s gonna be okay, I promise it will be okay, you just have to stay with me.” Roman said, doing what he could to help Soleil stay awake. It wasn’t easy but he managed, feeling the movement of whatever they were riding in now, then it lifted off the ground. A bullhead maybe, he wasn’t sure, only knowing that he had to focus on Roman, on staying standing, on keeping his eyes open.

“We’re clear!” Came Neo’s voice from the cockpit after a while and Roman picked Soleil up again, holding him tight as he turned to the door and opened it, quick to get a good grasp on a handhold.

Sunlight flooded in and Soleil spread his wings to catch as much of it as possible, they glittered faintly, absorbing the warmth and light. He breathed a sigh of relief and fell to what counted as ‘sleep’ for him, just holding his uncle and enjoying the sun was enough to feel mostly himself again.  
Roman kept a tight hold on the child, looking out at the storm they’d left behind. He fully intended to use up a full tank of fuel if that’s what it took to get soleil the energy he needed to survive. He rested his head against his nephew’s and just enjoyed the calm moment for what it was. Thinking to himself _‘He’s gonna be fine.’_

\-----------------------------------------------

Finally Sorin didn’t seem afraid of her anymore, they were walking around his former home and he pointed things out to talk to her about, he was still caught in his death state, which worried her, but she felt she was at least making ground with helping him move on to the other side. She knew it would do him no good to stay here, she couldn’t stay forever as it was, so calmly, patiently, she guided him towards the acceptance that his time here was over.

\------------------------------------------------

It was after dark by the time the sound of a bullhead pierced through the den of rain in the residential area that held Blake and Yang’s home. Everyone hurried outside as the large aircraft lowered towards the street and the door opened, Roman standing inside with soleil standing beside him. Ruby was almost startled by the old visual that came to mind, of how Roman had parted ways on their first meeting… they’d become enemies that day.

“Soleil!” Yang cried, running over and Roman lowered the boy out of the aircraft, smiling.

“There ya go, one kid all better now.” Roman grinned as Yang wrapped her son in a tight hug. Blake at her side quickly.

“Thank you, Roman.” Blake said graciously, tears of relief in her eyes.

“Anything for these kids, you know that.” he smiled and as the bullhead started to lift back up he caught sight of two extra people on the front porch. He had to blink a couple of times, shocked at what he was seeing. There on the steps sat… his sister, Carmine and… Sorin. Carmine looked the same as the day she’d died, and Sorin looked the same as the moment he’d died. Carmine was wrapping her signature white scarf around the kit’s neck and he seemed to cheer, his color returning. She picked the boy up, looked Roman’s way and winked. Then, both were gone.  
Roman had to fall back to one of the seats as the bullhead climbed further into the air.

“You okay Roro?” Neo called but he couldn’t find the words to answer, shocked but also reassured as he realized what the implications were.  
He’d asked his sister to look after little Sorin in the afterlife and… she was.  
That brought him a great deal of comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, who else remembers when soul sand was purple? I started this chapter a very long time ago but didn't finish it until recently, hopefully the transition isn't too obvious.


	8. The Ice cream Heir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this chapter no less than three times, it was a real struggle. Editing is pretty minimal, please forgive, it's 4:30 in the morning and I just want to post this already, it's months... years overdue. At this point I just hope I'm including all the details properly. If anything seems unclear feel free to ask and I'll clarify if it should have been clear already cause I'm a disorganized mess and I apologize.  
> Comments are always highly appreciated, it lest me know there's still interest in this fic.  
> enjoy.

“You sure… with me?” Neo asked softly, the light in the room was low, but the soft firelight glittered in her eyes, making the mismatched orbs seem all the more alluring to the ice queen laying beside her.

“Of course, I love you more than anyone else, no matter what secrets we have to keep, I know what I want.” Weiss assured the mistress of the criminal underworld, her study still around them aside from the crackling from the fireplace, dark aside from that dancing light.

“Then you’ll have what you desire.” Neo all but purred, settling into the decision easily. The smile that washed over Weiss’ features in that moment was a memory Neo intended to hold close to her heart forever, such a rare but beautiful thing.

-

Thunder cracked loudly and startled the crime boss from her light sleep, a quick glance showed her things were as she’d left them and exhaustion dragged her back under again quickly. Sleep had become rare, stress was high and hope was in short supply.

… It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Neo clung to better events as she slipped back into the darkness of her dreams, the excited chaos and careful plotting, the successes and preparations… no matter how joyus the occasion had meant to be though, as with so much of Neo’s personal life, it had fallen to tragedy all too quickly but not at all how she’d expected.  
That fateful night was impossible to shake, haunting her like a heavy storm threatening to erode her sanity. The attack was uncalled for, the aggressor had no right to do what he had… and for all her flaws, Weiss had not deserved what came to her, what fate gripped her now. The gunshot, the smell of gunpowder, the sound of shattering glass, the smell of blood… It was all still too fresh in Neo’s mind, holding her secret lover in her arms as the assailant fell dead, praying to whatever powers that be cared to listen not to take Weiss from her… not to steal her happiness away again.

-

“We’re here.” Despite how quietly Emerald spoke, it still brought Neo out of her light sleep tensed for a fight. She quickly realized her surroundings and relaxed though, turning her attention to the center of her life’s calamity before looking back to her second in command.

“We’ll split up here, I’ll meet you later at the safehouse, you remove any pests before I arrive.” Neo said, not sounding as much like an order as the shell of a woman took it. Emerald vanished with little more than a nod. With a steadying breath Neo ventured off, back out to the familiar streets of Vale, even with how much warmer it was here, that did little to stave off the chill of a thunderstorm that’s dreary downpour matched the crime queen’s mood. She was quickly soaked to the bone, her coat not meant for such a brutal assault of water. She did her absolute best to keep the bundle in her arms dry though, no matter how heavy her heart or dark her thoughts, she was being extra cautious with this endeavor.

-

That same storm was pouring down outside the Bumblebee household, it was evening, Blake and the kits were watching a Movie. Yang was cooking again, lost in thought when suddenly the back door slid open and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Yang spun, sauce covered wooden spoon in hand, not that she usually used weapons anything of the like. She was somewhat startled yet again by the normally sly and dapper Neo as she walked in. She looked exhausted and she carried a wet bundle close. It took a moment for her brain to click when she heard the crying.

“Oh my god you stole a baby… or two?”

Neo gave her an annoyed look before closing her umbrella then the door.

Yang turned to holler into the living room. “We have a guest for dinner!”

“I didn’t steal them.” Neo said after a moment, she was pulling the blanket around.

“Okay, so…” Yang started but then her face went pale. “Weiss…”

“She’s not dead… but she may not survive, either. She’s in a coma.”

“She- what? What happened? Is that why you have the babies?”

“She was attacked, bastard stalker who thought he was entitled to her. He’s dead… but I wasn’t fast enough, the doctors aren’t hopeful. I managed to wrangle things around… I fudged a marriage license and forged Weiss’ signature. So… as far as the Atlus officials are concerned my name is Carnatia. Also, basically while she’s down and out I’d be in charge, but I left her affairs in capable and trustworthy hands for now. I’ve got our twins and for now I just need some damn help since I have no fucking clue what I’m doing. It’s a wonder they survived the trip here.”

“Yeah, we can help you out.” Yang nodded.

“Starting with being dry.” Blake said as she walked in with a couple of dry baby blankets to swaddle the poor children in. The baby boy had little whisps of white hair that held the tiniest tent of pink in a few places, his eyes were colorless. The baby girl had the beginnings of a split hair color like Neo, half brown and half blond-ish white, here eyes heterochromatic, one blue, one brown. The newborns were only a few weeks old, Neo may not have known what she was doing but she’d managed to keep the babies clean and fed.

“They don’t look too bad off, you’ve managed okay.” Yang noted, looking over Blake’s shoulder before attending the food.

“I mostly just scrambled through what I learned from helping Roman look after your kits.” Neo admitted.

“Well that’s something at least. You should go get dried off too, I’ll grab some clothes you can borrow if you don’t have any with you.”

“I really need to wash everything, it’s been a long trip.”

Blake nodded, trying to calm the babies and motioning for Neo to follow, which she did. The experienced mother headed to her and her wife’s room and dug through a dresser, carrying the selected clothes to the bathroom where Neo was stripping off wet clothes, her coat carefully set over the sink. Blake left her the clothes and some fresh towels, not looking at the increasingly naked crime boss as she let her know where the detergents were kept and which settings on the washer would probably work best for Neo’s nice clothes.

“Thanks, this means a lot.” Neo admitted, now more than ever quietly impressed by the fanus woman’s motherly skills. She was certain that level of balancing two infants in one arm and carrying things around was nothing short of witchcraft.

“It’s no problem, supper should be ready soon so I’ll keep up with these two while you get sorted out. Oh, what are their names?”

“Quartz and Prysm.” Neo said, indicating who was who.

“Suits them.” Blake said and left Neo so she could have some privacy.

Neo continued drying off but slowed down, finally left in peace for the first time in weeks and she found herself just holding her face in the towel, muffling her own tired, scared and frustrated sobs. Letting the soft, fluffy fabric hide all evidence of her tears while her mind spun back over everything that had happened, while the stress rolled and surged, the pain crushing in on her heart, the seeming inevitable loss like an impending snake bite. It was a level of powerlessness that Neo _hated_ being forced to endure for a second time in her life, worse now than before. When her father had tried to kill her and Roman in a drunken rage there was still a level of control she had, it was only her she had to worry about and Roman had her back. Now though, now there were far more threads to weave, more lives hanging in the balance and there was no right or clear path.

_“Hope is a pointless construct. What happens happens.”_ Emerald had said, it hadn’t made Neo feel any better, even if it seemed to hold some truth.

Steadily she calmed herself down, right now, Quartz and Prysm needed her most, whatever Weiss fate was, Neo had done all she could to stack the odds in the ice queen’s favor.  
Finally dry and dressed in a t-shirt that was still a bit big on her and drawstring shorts that were also baggy on her, she set to throwing her clothes in the washer, washing her face, drying her coat and heading out to rejoin the family that had so graciously taken her in. Roman and herself were all that was left of the Torchwicks, well, the twins now too but they were destined to be Schnee, not Torchwick. She hoped the two wouldn’t be growing up to take over a company without Weiss’ guidance, without ever knowing her because she never woke up. Neo’s stomach twisted into knots at the thought.  
She didn’t realize she’d stopped in the hall until Soleil wrapped her legs in a tight hug the way only little kids can and looked up at her with concern beyond his years.

“Are you okay?” He whispered.

“No…” She admitted, reaching down to ruffle his hair as if that would comfort her.

“She’s gonna be okay, I’m sure of it.” He offered softly.

“Maybe…”

“She’s gonna be mad if she finds out you’re doubting her.” He pointed out, not that he knew Weiss well, but gathering from what he’d heard…

“Yeah, you’re right.” She said with a soft chuckle. Picking Soleil up she carried him into the kitchen with the others, plates being set out, filled with spaghetti. It was such a normal feeling scene that Neo felt displaced, almost unsettled. She sat in her appointed chair and accepted food. Despite how odd she felt the food was good and she was quietly appreciative of Yang’s cooking skills. She’d cleared most of her plate before she even thought to glance around for her kids, still not used to having her own.  
Blake was still holding little Quartz, feeding him with a bottle and rocking gently on the back two legs of the dining chair, Prysm asleep in a hastily set up basket.

“Thank you.” Neo said again, watching the contented little baby and trying to mentally take notes. Feeding him had been such a struggle on the trip here, she’d be surprised if it had been anyone other than Blake to calm the poor kid.

“Any time, you know you have a place here.” Yang smiled, sounding both her usual self and surprisingly responsible, carring.

Once Neo was done eating Blake brought the now full and happy baby back over for her to hold. She quietly gave Neo advice on how to hold him best, it had been a few years since the Kits had been so small after all and Neo was far less well practiced. Something about Blake’s calm tone soothed the crime boss considerably and she fell more comfortably into her role. It wasn’t going to be easy but it wouldn’t be impossible either with these two helping her. It had been her biggest reason out of everything to coming back, her throne was one thing, but if she was seen as incompetent with her kids they would be taken and she couldn’t afford that.

“Any chance I can con you guys into watching them while I’m at… work?”

“Better with us than anywhere else.” Yang shrugged, not minding with all the times Neo had helped watch out for the kits, even if from the shadows.

“You guys really are the best.” Neo smiled, a bit over emotional with how tired she was.

“You should get some rest.” Blake noted.

“You can have my bed!” Sombra said cheerfully, throwing her hands in the air.

“And where are you gonna sleep?” Yang grinned.

“With Lila! I’ll keep the bad dreams away.”

Lila bit her lip and didn’t protest, it was hard to tell if she was upset or relieved, perhaps both.

“Thanks.” Neo said warmly to the two girls, drawing smiles from both.

“You know we love you Auntie Neo.” Narzisse said happily, cheerful about the surprise slumber party.  
Neo reached over to ruffle the girl’s hair, the feeling of acceptance was so pure from the kits she couldn’t feeling a little better around them.

It was somewhat surprising how quickly the Bumblebee household settled down, She normally snuck in either after this process or left before it happened so this was a surprisingly new experience. Still, she had to appreciate the way Blake read to the kits and tucked them in, it was a serene scene, the girls settled in bed and Blake in a chair by the lamp, Soliel curled up in her lap silently reading along as she read outloud. Neo was an outsider looking in, she wasn’t part of this ritual, yet she was included, her sleeping little ones settled nestled in a basket beside Sombra’s bed. The crime boss would have been fine with just crashing on the couch… but she didn’t want to disappoint the little kit who was so sure she was being helpful. Story read and sleepy kits settled under their covers, Soliel carrying the book out of the room ahead of Blake leaving silence in her wake. The dim light of a nightlight was all that cast the room in a soft, blue light, Neo found herself staring into the basket, half tempted to pull the babies into the bed with her and half terrified she’d somehow kill them in her sleep so she left them be, watching their little faces as she tried to let her weariness pull her into proper sleep now that she was safe.

The scene that greeted her when she closed her eyes was the opposite of the serenity of the kit’s room however and she kept finding herself laying awake, watching the children, both hers and not as they all slept peacefully. It was strange adrifft feeling, suspended in this quiet place while filled with turmoil and anxiety of the world spinning so quickly out of her control. When sleep did finally rise from the darkness to claim her, only the pain of her past danced through her dreams, both recent and distant, battles merging together like some sort of personalized hell.

One thing was more clear than the rest….

Cold air, burning her throat and lungs as she ran.  
The nearly abandoned area right outside of Weiss’ office building.  
The tall figure who didn’t belong, weapon raised at the unshakable business woman, held still by an unseen force.  
The sound of Neo’s sword being ripped free of its umbrella sheath, the clash of steel and gunfire.

_“No one messes with **my** Queen.”_ She heard her own voice snarl, her blade going to the man’s throat.  
The absolute sickening feeling as all her muscles were forced into a freeze as the man’s gaze fell to her, his semblance gripping her like a vice.  
The rush of cold air as Weiss appeared from nowhere, burying Myrthinaster deep in the man’s chest, then as fast as she’d been there she had sprung away, leaving a spray of blood in her wake. A sliver of glorious in a moment of horror.  
The dying man, sputtering curses, his semblance losing it’s grip but not fast enough as he raised his gun once more and fired.  
The shattering of glass followed the echo of the gunshot, Neo was barely freed in time to turn and see Weiss roll to a stop inside the building, the pregnant woman having been flung through the doors with the combined momentum of her glyph and the gunshot.  
The glass scattered in a shower of light catching crystals, cascaded over and around the ice queen thousands of bloody diamonds.  
The freezing hold released as the man fell dead, but the frigidity of Neo’s blood stayed cold as she ran, freezing once more for only a beat then dropping to her knees to pull Weiss into her arms, her hair quickly going from pink tinged white to crimson as the wound on her head bleeding heavily. Neo felt sick, enraged, horrified, terrified and powerless all at once. Feeling as if she was watching the one person she loved more than anyone die in her arms, fading away with any chance at happiness, she was still breathing… that had to mean… 

-

Soft sobbing cut into the nightmare and all at once it was shattered like the glass of the door. Neo was on her feet with her weapon in hand before she was even fully awake, but as her mind wrapped around what her eyes were seeing and her ears were hearing she started to relax, following the sound that had broken her free from her own nightmare.

Lila was curled in a tight ball facing away from her sister, sobbing softly, cheeks streaked in tears, the girl shivered as if clung to by an inescapable chill.  
Without an ounce of hesitation Neo scooped the girl up and carried her out of the room, hugging her tightly and not setting her down until they reached the kitchen. It was there Neo wiped the girl’s tears away and looked into her eyes. She started to ask what was wrong but the look in the child’s eyes… the haunting look of someone who had seen something beyond what they could handle, something so horrifying it could never be cast away. A look that did not belong in the eyes of any of the kits… Neo frowned, meeting that gaze, not doubting she shared something similar, not bothering to hide the pain and fear in her own eyes.  
Slowly Lila started to calm down, recognizing the kinship of the damned in her aunt.

“Do… do you burn too?” Lila asked quietly.

“Burn?” Neo asked softly.

“In your dreams…”

“Sometimes… Sometimes I bleed, sometimes I drown…” Neo flinched at that last one, it was a bit insensitive in hindsight, even if it was true.

“I only burn… the smoke makes it hard to breathe… everything is too hot. It hurts.” She sniffled.

Neo hugged her. “It’s only a nightmare. It isn’t real, it’s fear trying to tear you apart.”

“It feels real!” She protested, sobbing again, face buried against Neo’s shirt.

“I know. I know… but you aren’t dead yet. Neither am I. The reaper may wave it’s intentions and plots in our faces but it’s up to us to spit in its face in kind, kick it in the groin and go live our lives the way we want. Fear can be a tool to survive or a consuming force. It’s up to you how you handle it. Will you let it bury you or will you pick it up like a sword and turn it on your enemies? If it hurts more than anything else you can laugh in the face of those who try to hurt you and taunt them that their best isn’t enough.”

“Really?” Lila asked softly, taking a deep breath.

“Really. Your life is yours to live, stand up and claim each day, each is rightfully yours to live, the nightmares show you what might happen, what could happen. But nothing is set in stone, you can turn the tide, fear is an instinct to tell you when to fight and when to flee. You just have to learn how to understand it.”

Lila nodded, falling silent as she muled that over in her head. Gently Neo kissed the girl on the top of her head before releasing her and turning to the freezer. She dug around until she found some ice cream and set to fixing the girl a bowl. Then, with a grin she fixed a second, passing the first to Lilla then holding the other toward the doorway.

Soleil trotted in, book under one arm and wings casually folded against his back. He accepted the treat with a smile, glad Neo had found a way to quell Lila’s fear, at least for now.

Neo wasn’t sure what the future held as she hopped up to sit on the counter and dug into the carton with a spoon of her own, but in that moment, it didn’t matter. All that mattered were these kits and her little snowballs. She loved Weiss like she’d loved no other and she found herself impressed with how well she’d fought that last battle… even if it was her last she’d never given in to fear or crumbled under pressure. So neither would the lady of the underworld.  
Dishes settled in the sink, empty carton in the trash, Soleil returned to his room to read some more and Neo carried Lila back to her room. She got settled back in the bed, holding the little kit protectively, as if she could chase away the nightmares with a stern look. It at least seemed to be enough as Lila finally got some sleep. Comforted that she could chase away someone else's demons Neo finally found enough peace to rest as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Warning, as this fic was originally intended as an intermission as shall be mentioned below... I no longer know if the next installment will happen as the Co-author has lost interest in RWBY as a whole. I will talk further with them and see about writing it alone maybe but that will be a looot of work, especially with OC's that are not mine. If it never happens, please forgive me, I will be really sad right along with you.
> 
> Also, I know this one is short but I've been breaking my neck to get all this stuff posted and now it's nearly two thirty in the morning and I have adult life to contend with in the morning... in a few hours.... *sigh* anyway, more will be coming soon, I mean, heck, we're almost all caught up and I can crosspost much more easily!
> 
> Chapters for this fic may come slowly after catching up as a good number of the middle of the Kit's lives.... I somehow never got around to writing... rip.
> 
> Original AN from FFN: Welcome back everyone! and Welcome to anyone new!
> 
> To those of you who've been with me from the start of this, thank you, all of you.
> 
> You wanted more - obviously cause you made it this far- well, here's more!
> 
> I'm very excited for this, there's a lot to it and a hand full of chapters done though not in order so posting will be kinda slow and operatic, sorry.
> 
> As always I look forward to your reviews!
> 
> I really want to hear everyone's opinions on this!
> 
> If you have questions feel free to pm me.
> 
> Editor2's note: If it wasn't apparent already, from here on out the series is going to feature a lot of original characters. We've put a lot of work into making sure they're not cookie cutter Mary Sues, so I ask that you all give them a chance but if you dislike OCs in general then this story may not be your cup of tea.
> 
> As for what's going to happen to the series, here's the plan. Bumblekits here is basically an intermission between White Riding Hood and the next installment in the Trust Love Betrayal series, so this one will be a bit different than what we've been through so far. This one is going to be a series of oneshots covering vital points in the Kits' early lives up until it reaches the time when the next story starts.
> 
> So basically, this one doesn't have a usual story plot since it's just a bunch of oneshots as the Kits grow up. This one WILL explain what they're like and how their personalities develop, why they act the way they will, etc. However, if you want a solid story plot (an idea at the beginning that tells its story and comes to a conclusion at the end) then don't worry, the next installment will have it. Remember, this one is an intermission and not a main story.
> 
> Also, we don't have cover art for this one. Since it features OCs, we couldn't just use edited screenshots like before. We may or may not be able to come up with a cover for this one and the next one, not sure yet (why must we be cursed with the inability to draw?) Oh and if anyone is confused about what the characters look like, send the Author a pm and we'll explain them in more detail than offhandedly in a story will allow.
> 
> Lastly, I swear to god if the Author spells 'foyer' wrong one more time then I'm going to pitch a lamp at them.


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